1940: The Second Great Migration and Literary Giants

1900-1999: A New Divide
Written By Stephanie Brizee

Big Idea

The Second Great Migration alongside the increasing public burgeoning of Black intellectuals, writers and artists created momentum, organized Black groups across the United States, and began to build the backbone for the Civil Rights Movement.

Moving North and West

The Second Great Migration existed as a continuation of the first that had begun at the beginning of the twentieth century as African Americans looked for better economic opportunities and to leave the horrors of the Jim Crow South. The advent of World War II and the major boost thus gave to the economy, especially in cities, also drove Black families to move in search of better work and working conditions. Unlike the first migration, where Black families moved from rural, agricultural based communities toward cities, in the second migration, Black men and women generally relocated from Southern cities to Northern and especially Western, Southwestern, and Northwestern cities, such as Los Angelos, California, Phoenix, Arizona, and Portland, Oregon (Tabellini, et al, 2023).

Great Migrations Comparison Map of the United States


First and Second Great Migrations shown through changes in African American share of population in major U.S. cities, 1916–1930 and 1940–1970.

Image Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Residential Segregation

Because so many cities had already been redlined and segregated, as Black southerners arrived in Northern and Western cities they were automatically forced to live in the less desirable areas of the city designated for Black people. With the increase in population, many White Americans moved out of the cities in a shift referred to as White flight. Not only did this further segregate Black families, but it often also withdrew a large amount of the tax base from the city leaving Black families with even fewer resources from which to be supported by the city government who already were predisposed to provide as little support as possible. (Steptoe, 2018).

Literary Giants

Born in New York City after his mother had arrived as part of the first Great Migration, James Baldwin grew up during the period Alain Locke had described as “the New Negro.” He came of age in the 1940s, when he discovered his passion for writing and his power as an orator. He lived in Greenwich Village as a young man where he began exploring his sexuality and meeting avant garde artists and writers. In 1948 at 24 years of age, he moved to Paris looking to escape, “daily indignities of racism” (Campbell, 2021, p. 47). His writing career was prolific, deeply insightful, and highlighted the tremendous tensions inherent in being a Black person in America. Some of Baldwin’s works are as follows:

  • Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953)

  • Giovanni's Room (1956)

  • Another Country (1962)

  • If Beale Street Could Talk (1974; film 2018).

Ralph Waldo Ellison was another brilliant writer of the century voicing Black struggles and tensions. In the 1960s, his novel, The Invisible Man, was deemed the most important novel written since World War II. Some of his works include the following:

  • Invisible Man” (1952)

  • “The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison” (1995)

  • “Flying Home and Other Stories” (1997)

  • “Juneteenth” (1999)

Maya Angelou was another writer who came of age during this time. Born in St. Louis, Missouri. She was an accomplished poet, play write, memoirist, and civil rights activist. Some of her works include the following:

  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)

  • All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986)

  • And Still I Rise (1978)

  • Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993)

  • A Brave and Startling Truth (1995)

  • Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes (2004)

Throughout the turbulence of the twentieth-century, Black writers externalized the pain, suffering, and ongoing challenges of what it meant to be Black in a country that only valued White. They worked together and independently and they created the intellectual and artistic inspirations that helped drive the Civil Rights Movement forward in its demands for equality for all (Tabellini, et al, 2023).

Your Turn

How did the thriving intellectual and artistic scene within Black communities contribute to a growing confidence in demanding public and political rights? How did the Second Great Migration represent Black agency and empowerment?

Stephanie Brizee
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1939: Urban Growth, Tuskegee Airmen, and World War II
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1944: The GI Bill and Urban Spaces