In the two decades between 1910 and 1930, over
ten percent to the Black population of the United States
left the South, where the preponderance of the Black
population had been located, and migrated to northern
(5) states, with the largest number moving, it is claimed,
between 1916 and 1918. It has been frequently assumed,
but not proved, that the majority of the migrants in
what has come to be called the Great Migration came
from rural areas and were motivated by two concurrent
(10) factors: the collapse of the cotton industry following
the boll weevil infestation, which began in 1898, and
increased demand in the North for labor following
the cessation of European immigration caused by the
outbreak of the First World War in 1914. This assump-
(15) tion has led to the conclusion that the migrants’ subse-
quent lack of economic mobility in the North is tied to
rural background, a background that implies unfamil-
iarity with urban living and a lack of industrial skills.
But the question of who actually left the South has
(20) never been rigorously investigated. Although numerous
investigations document an exodus from rural southern
areas to southern cities prior to the Great Migration.
no one has considered whether the same migrants then
moved on to northern cities. In 1910 over 600,000
(25) Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force,
reported themselves to be engaged in “manufacturing
and mechanical pursuits,” the federal census category
roughly encompassing the entire industrial sector. The
Great Migration could easily have been made up entirely
(30) of this group and their families. It is perhaps surprising
to argue that an employed population could be enticed
to move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditions
then prevalent in the South.
About thirty-five percent of the urban Black popu-
(35) lation in the South was engaged in skilled trades. Some
were from the old artisan class of slavery-blacksmiths.
masons, carpenters-which had had a monopoly of
certain trades, but they were gradually being pushed
out by competition, mechanization, and obsolescence,
(40) The remaining sixty-five percent, more recently urban-
ized, worked in newly developed industries---tobacco.
lumber, coal and iron manufacture, and railroads.
Wages in the South, however, were low, and Black
workers were aware, through labor recruiters and the
(45)Black press, that they could earn more even as unskilled
workers in the North than they could as artisans in the
South. After the boll weevil infestation, urban Black
workers faced competition from the continuing influx
of both Black and White rural workers, who were driven
(50) to undercut the wages formerly paid for industrial jobs.
Thus, a move north would be seen as advantageous
to a group that was already urbanized and steadily
employed, and the easy conclusion tying their subse-
quent economic problems in the North to their rural
background comes into question.
1. The author indicates explicitly that which of the
following records has been a source of information in
her investigation?
(A) United States Immigration Service reports from
1914 to 1930
(B) Payrolls of southern manufacturing firms between
1910 and 1930
(C) The volume of cotton exports between 1898 and
1910
(D) The federal census of 1910
(E) Advertisements of labor recruiters appearing in
southern newspapers after 1910
2. In the passage, the author anticipates which of the
following as a possible objection to her argument?
(A) It is uncertain how many people actually migrated
during the Great Migration.
(B) The eventual economic status of the Great Migration
migrants has not been adequately traced.
(C) It is not likely that people with steady jobs would
have reason to move to another area of the country.
(D) It is not true that the term “manufacturing and
mechanical pursuits” actually encompasses the
entire industrial sector.
(E) Of the Black workers living in southern cities, only
those in a small number of trades were threatened by
obsolescence.
3. According to the passage, which of the following is true
of wages in southern cities in 1910?
(A) They were being pushed lower as a result of
increased competition.
(B) They had begun t to rise so that southern industry
could attract rural workers.
(C) They had increased for skilled workers but
decreased for unskilled workers.
(D) They had increased in large southern cities but
decreased in small southern cities.
(E) They had increased in newly developed industries
but decreased in the older trades.
4. The author cites each of the following as possible
influences in a Black worker’s decision to migrate
north in the Great Migration EXCEPT
(A) wage levels in northern cities
(B) labor recruiters
(C) competition from rural workers
(D) voting rights in northern states
(E) the Black press
5. It can be inferred from the passage that the “easy
conclusion” mentioned in line 53 is based on which
of the following assumptions?
(A) People who migrate from rural areas to large
cities usually do so for economic reasons.
(B) Most people who leave rural areas to take jobs in
cities return to rural areas as soon as it is financially
possible for them to do so.
(C) People with rural backgrounds are less likely to
succeed economically in cities than are those with
urban backgrounds.
(D) Most people who were once skilled workers are
not willing to work as unskilled workers.
(E) People who migrate from their birthplaces to other
regions of country seldom undertake a second
migration.
6. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) support an alternative to an accepted methodology
(B) present evidence that resolves a contradiction
(C) introduce a recently discovered source of
information
(D) challenge a widely accepted explanation
(E) argue that a discarded theory deserves new attention
7. According to information in the passage, which of the
following is a correct sequence of groups of workers,
from highest paid to lowest paid, in the period between
1910 and 1930?
(A) Artisans in the North; artisans in the South;
unskilled workers in the North; unskilled workers in
the South
(B) Artisans in the North and South; unskilled workers
in the North; unskilled workers in the South
(C) Artisans in the North; unskilled workers in the
North; artisans in the South
(D) Artisans in the North and South; unskilled urban
workers in the North; unskilled rural workers in the
South
(E) Artisans in the North and South, unskilled rural
workers in the North and South; unskilled urban
workers in the North and South
8. The material in the passage would be most relevant to a
long discussion of which of the following topics?
(A) The reasons for the subsequent economic difficulties
of those who participated in the Great Migration
(B) The effect of migration on the regional economies of
the United States following the First World War
(C) The transition from a rural to an urban existence for
those who migrated in the Great Migration
(D) The transformation of the agricultural South
following the boll weevil infestation
(E) The disappearance of the artisan class in the United
States as a consequence of mechanization in the
early twentieth century