Negro Migration during the War — Story, Setting & Ideas

A Movement Documented by Field Investigators

Scott's foreword names his collaborators and their assignments, making clear that the study is a composite of on-the-ground reports. Monroe N. Work, editor of the Negro Year Book, covered the Deep South; Charles S. Johnson, a University of Chicago graduate student, investigated Mississippi and northern cities; T. Thomas Fortune, a former editor of the New York Age, handled eastern centers. This division of labor suggests a systematic attempt to capture both the push factors in the South and the pull factors in the North. The excerpts do not reveal the full content of these reports, but the chapter titles—"Causes of the Migration," "Stimulation of the Movement," "Efforts to Check the Movement"—indicate a structured analysis. Readers should note that Scott himself was a prominent African American educator and administrator, serving as secretary to Booker T. Washington, which may inform his perspective.

Chicago as a Case Study in Urban Adjustment

The longest excerpt details the situation in Chicago, where an estimated 400,000 migrants arrived within three years. Scott describes a city grappling with housing shortages: the Chicago Renting Agents' Association formed a special committee, the Cook County Association considered Sunday School work for newcomers, and the Chicago Women's Club conducted a housing survey. The Urban League's work is broken into three categories: employment, housing, and "adjustment or assimilation." Volunteers met trains, directed migrants to relatives or lodging, and inspected accommodations for over 400 individuals. The excerpt also notes the formation of state-based clubs (Alabama Club, Georgia Club, etc.) that helped newcomers find homes and work. Scott observes that most Chicago negroes lived in a limited South Side area, where segregation was reinforced by difficulty securing housing elsewhere and by a desire for political strength. He reports that in summer 1917, 664 applicants sought houses on a single day but only 50 were supplied, with 97 houses advertised for rent—a stark illustration of the crisis.

The Role of National Organizations and Public Opinion

Chapter XIII is titled "Remedies for Relief by National Organizations," and Chapter XIV covers "Public Opinion Regarding the Migration." These chapters, though not excerpted, suggest that Scott's study goes beyond description to evaluate institutional responses. The foreword acknowledges support from the National League on Urban Conditions and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, indicating that the book itself was part of a broader effort to address the migration. The excerpts show that local organizations—churches, Sunday Schools, women's clubs, real estate associations—all became involved. Scott's language is measured and factual, avoiding overt advocacy. The final chapter on public opinion likely synthesizes newspaper editorials, statements from officials, and perhaps letters, offering a window into contemporary attitudes. Readers should consider how Scott's position as a Tuskegee insider shapes his framing of the migration as a problem to be managed rather than celebrated.

Scott's study is best read as a primary source on how early twentieth-century institutions—both white and black—responded to rapid demographic change. The excerpts show a work grounded in data collection and organizational cooperation, not in personal narrative or polemic. Pay attention to the tension between the migrants' agency and the structures that sought to control or assist them. The book's value lies in its detailed, contemporary account of a pivotal moment in American social history.

Reading about families packing hope into shared train cars brought back my grandmother’s stories of her uncle’s 1919 letter from Chicago—how a single job in the stockyards meant a whole new world. That ache of leaving, yet carrying everything forward, returned again when I turned through The United States Marine Corps in the World War — Inside the Classic, where young men’s letters held the same quiet resolve, the same grip on dignity amid upheaval. Both books whisper: movement is never just geography.