Black Interstate Migration by Region

The infographic correlates a number of recent reporting by Brookings, The Guardian and The Washington Post that have exposed a “New Great Migration,” a reference to the historical “Great Migration” at the turn of the 20th Century. We pull data from the American Community Survey 2023 and IPUMS USA that validate these claims. From the early 1900s until the 1970s, Black people moved to northern cities from former slave states in the American South in massive numbers looking for job and education opportunities, evading Jim Crow laws and lynchings. By mapping the interstate migration flows of Black people by region one can see the larger volume flows from all regions moving to the south, including a large number of people from the south choosing to move within the region. In our artwork the data is clear the largest migration flows represented by colorful bands move from the West (pink), Midwest (yellow) and Northeast (green) move into the South (blue).