Migration Patterns to the North

Milwaukee during the 1930s and 1940s experienced a great influx of African American immigrants during a momentous event known as the Great Migration. Over 500,000 African Americans left the south between 1910 and 1920 and by the eve of the 1930s that number had more than doubled to 1.3 million. Although Milwaukee wasn’t one of the top destinations in terms of numbers, their numbers jumped from 10.2% of all African Americans in Milwaukee being born in Milwaukee to 23.8% in just the span of a decade. The rise in internal migration rates corresponds with a decrease in net immigration into the country owing to restrictive Immigration laws and wartime production requiring workers in northern industrial cities.