The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1916-12-30
RACE, SEEKS new
ABIDING PLACES
Hundreds Of Thousands Have
Left the Southland.
CAUSES OF GREAT EXODUS
Summary Of Facts and Figures In HiN
tory of Migration Of CoIored People
From the South Since the Beginning
Of the European War-72,000n Are
Skilled Laborers.

Of the European War-72,0o0a Are
Skilled Laborers.
BY RALPH w. TYLER.
Since the beginning of the great Eu-
ropean war 326,S76 colored people from
the south have gone north, the larger
per cent Of whom have gone north
during the last eight months Of 1915.
That this noticeable and unusual MI
grafton Of the race to the north should
attract country wide attention and in
vite very serious discussion in the pub
lie press Of both the north and south is
perfectly natural because Of the pos
sible effect this migration may have on
the economic and social conditions
north and south.
These 326,976 natives of the south
land going north have scattered
themselves over Ohio, Indiana, ILL.,
nois, Michigan, the northwestern states,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey,
New York, Connecticut and Massachu-
setts. Were DR.. Booker T. Washing
ton living, what would be his position
relative to this unusually large migra-
ton of his race from the south?
Knowing him as did and enjoying his
confidence as l did, believe l commit
no error in statinghe would have stren-
uously discouraged it.
That the shortage Of labor supply was
responsible for northern employers
sending south to take from Dixie the
muscle she had depended upon for
more than $50 years is apparent to all.
That the race long subjected to seq
regation, very meager school facili-
ties and the denial of suffrage should
regard the north, with its equal school
privileges and the right Of suffrage un-
restricted, as promised land Is but
natural
Every time burning of Negroes, like
the recent horrible Waco CTex.) affair,
occurs in the south, with an unjus-
tifiable lynching of reputable, well to
dO colored man, like the recent Abbe-
vile Is. c. affair, the Negroes in the
south ask the divine Creator in pite-'
Gus walls the question, 20 Lord, how
longY' When foreigners left to fight in
defense of their respective countries,
leaving jobs and positions vacant, and
the world war paralyzed foreign immi-
grafton, compelling the northern en-
ployer to send his agents south for
Negro labOrers, so glad were they to
leave a section where for 250 years
their labor and fidelity had been re-
Quilted with poor wages, scant school
facilities, discrimination, denial Of suf-
frage and lynching that 326,S76 Of
them exclaimed. 1--WE are coming,
Father Abraham. three hundred thou
sand strong"
From the most reliable sources, after
careful investigation, find that these
326,S76 colored citizens who have NOV
ed north since 1914 came from the fol-
lowing states in the following num-
bers: Georgia, 46,S7O; South Carolina,
27,500; North Carolina, $3.50; Flori-
da, 10,S06; Mississippi, 34,21O; Louisi-
ana, 1880; Arkansas, 23,50O; Tennes-
see, 20,620; Virginia, 1850; Kentucky,
81 $50; Texas, 1O,670; Oklahoma, $3.50.
Now, where did all these 328876
blacks go-to what state? Crossing
the Mason and Dixon line, this black
caravan moved into what they have
long regarded as the promised land
and distributed themselves as follows:
$4,000 of them stopped in Ohio, $4,000
wended their way to Indiana, $4,000
extended their pilgrimage to Illinois,
$4,000 went to Michigan, $1,000 stop
ped in Pennsylvania, $4,000 settled in
the Empire State, $4,000 took up their
habitat in Delaware and New Jersey,
25,OOO distributed themselves over the
New England states.
OF these 328,S78 who have left the
south since the beginning Of the Euro
pean war $4,000 Of them were skilled
laborers, the remainder being common
laborers, who took the place of Ital-
ians, Slavs and Hungarians on con-
struction work, in mines, mills and
manufacturing plants. Kentucky con-
tributed large per cent Of the skilled
labor, possibly because of her nearness
to the field of labor demand, and Vir-
ginia and Alabama, due doubtless to
the location in these states Of the two
great Industrial schools, Hampton and
Tuskegee, were large contributors to
the skilled labor class.
My investigations give me assurance
that the vast majority Of these persons
who have come north are steady, sober,
Industrious men Of robust health who
seek an asylum In the free north, with
it's better wages and better opportuui-
ties for the education Of their. progeny.