Great Migration to Philadelphia

Great Migration to Philadelphia refers to the massive movement of African Americans from the rural South to Philadelphia during the 20th century, particularly during two major waves: the First Great Migration (1910-1940) and the Second Great Migration (1940-1970). These migrations transformed Philadelphia from a city with a relatively small Black population—descendants of those who had arrived before the Civil War—into one of America's major African American urban centers. Migrants came seeking economic opportunity, escape from Jim Crow oppression, and the hope of a better life in the North. They settled in neighborhoods like North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, and South Philadelphia, established churches and community organizations, and contributed to Philadelphia's economy as workers in wartime industries and peacetime manufacturing. By 1970, African Americans comprised over one-third of Philadelphia's population, fundamentally reshaping the city's demographics, culture, and politics.

Causes of Migration

The Great Migration was driven by both "push" factors in the South and "pull" factors in the North. In the South, African Americans faced systematic oppression under Jim Crow laws: segregation, disenfranchisement, economic exploitation through sharecropping and debt peonage, and the constant threat of racial violence including lynching. Agricultural changes—including the boll weevil infestation that devastated cotton crops and increasing mechanization that reduced the need for labor—undermined the economic basis of rural Southern life. For many African Americans, remaining in the South meant accepting a future of poverty, degradation, and danger.

Northern cities looked promising. World War I created labor shortages as European immigration halted and white workers entered military service, opening industrial jobs to Black workers for the first time. Northern wages, though often lower than those paid to white workers for the same work, far exceeded what could be earned in the Southern agricultural economy. Northern cities promised freedom from the most oppressive aspects of Jim Crow—the right to vote, access to better schools, and at least the possibility of advancement. Word of these opportunities spread through personal networks, Black newspapers like the Chicago Defender and the Philadelphia Tribune, and labor recruiters sent South by Northern employers. What started as a trickle became a flood as earlier migrants sent home reports of their success and helped relatives and friends make the journey north.

Settlement Patterns

Migrants settled in distinct neighborhoods. Often they displaced earlier residents or moved into areas of available housing. North Philadelphia, particularly the area around Columbia Avenue (later Cecil B. Moore Avenue), became the center of Black Philadelphia by mid-century. South Philadelphia's Black community, which had roots going back to the 18th century, expanded with new arrivals. West Philadelphia, particularly the area around Lancaster Avenue and later further west, developed significant Black populations. Settlement patterns reflected both choice—migrants often followed family and friends to particular neighborhoods—and constraint, as housing discrimination limited where African Americans could live.

Housing conditions were often terrible. Landlords who rented to Black tenants frequently maintained properties inadequately while charging premium rents, knowing that discrimination limited tenants' alternatives. Overcrowding was common as families doubled up in apartments designed for smaller households. Poor housing, limited city services, and overcrowding created serious public health challenges. But migrants also built vibrant communities in these neighborhoods. They established churches, businesses, and social organizations that served the growing population. The neighborhoods might be impoverished, yet they were also centers of Black cultural and social life.

Work and Economy

Discrimination limited Black workers' opportunities, but they still found jobs. During World War I and World War II, when labor was scarce, Black workers gained access to jobs in shipyards, arsenals, and factories that had previously excluded them. The Philadelphia Navy Yard, Baldwin Locomotive Works, and manufacturing plants throughout the city employed Black workers during wartime. After each war, though, Black workers often found themselves "last hired, first fired" as white workers returned from military service and competition for jobs intensified. Deindustrialization that affected Philadelphia from the mid-20th century onward would hit Black workers particularly hard.

Women migrants typically found work in domestic service—as housekeepers, cooks, and laundresses for white families—continuing patterns established in the South but under somewhat better conditions. Hotels, restaurants, and hospitals provided additional opportunities in the service sector. Discrimination limited professional opportunities but didn't eliminate them entirely. Black teachers staffed segregated schools. Black doctors and lawyers served the community. A Black middle class developed that provided leadership for civil rights efforts. The economic diversity of the migrant community—from factory workers to professionals—created a complex social structure within Black Philadelphia.

Community Institutions

Churches mattered most. Baptist and Methodist denominations that migrants had known in the South established new congregations or expanded existing ones to serve the growing population. Mother Bethel, the founding church of African Methodism, saw its congregation grow. New storefront churches appeared throughout migrant neighborhoods, often led by ministers who'd themselves migrated from the South. Churches provided spiritual sustenance but also practical support: help finding housing and jobs, assistance in times of crisis, and social networks that helped migrants navigate their new urban environment.

The Philadelphia Tribune, founded in 1884 and the oldest continuously published Black newspaper in America, served the migrant community with news, commentary, and advocacy. Community organizations like the Philadelphia branch of the NAACP, established in 1913, fought discrimination and advocated for civil rights. The Urban League helped migrants adjust to urban life and find employment. Social clubs, fraternal organizations, and neighborhood associations created community bonds across the diverse population of migrants from different Southern states. These institutions gave African Americans a voice in city affairs and laid groundwork for the civil rights struggles that would intensify in subsequent decades.

Legacy

Philadelphia was transformed. A city that was less than 5 percent Black in 1910 became over one-third Black by 1970. This demographic shift had profound political implications, as Black voters became an increasingly important constituency that neither party could ignore. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s drew strength from the community institutions that migrants had built. Black political power eventually achieved major breakthroughs including the election of W. Wilson Goode as Philadelphia's first Black mayor in 1983. The neighborhoods migrants created—despite continuing challenges of poverty, crime, and disinvestment—remained centers of African American life and culture.

Migration brought cultural contributions too. Musicians, artists, and writers who came north enriched Philadelphia's cultural life. The city's distinctive sound—from jazz clubs to soul music—owed much to migrants and their descendants. Food, religious practices, and cultural traditions from the South became part of Philadelphia's character. Modern Philadelphia exists because of the migration that reshaped the city during the 20th century. Understanding the city today is impossible without grasping what happened during those crucial decades.

See Also

• Free Black Community
• Mother Bethel and the AME Church
• Civil Rights Movement in Philadelphia
• North Philadelphia