What term describes the large-scale movement of African Americans from the South to the North and West for work and to escape discrimination?

• A. Great Migration
• B. Immigrant Wave
• C. Industrial Migration
• D. Westward Expansion

Answer: (A)

The movement described is the Great Migration. Between about 1916 and 1970, roughly six million African Americans left rural Southern states to move to urban centers in the North and West in search of factory jobs, higher wages, and a refuge from Jim Crow discrimination. This shift was driven by wartime labor demand in northern industries, followed by ongoing economic opportunities and social networks that drew Black workers to cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles. It transformed the demographics and culture of American cities and helped fuel later civil rights activism. The other options don’t fit: an immigrant wave refers to people moving from other countries, not internal migration within the United States; Industrial Migration isn’t the standard label for this historical movement; Westward Expansion describes 19th-century settler movement westward often involving different populations and motives.