Classroom Lesson: The Acceleration of the Great Migration, 1916-17
8-12
Students work in groups to examine excerpts from primary source documents. They identify social and economic factors affecting specific categories of people when the Great Migration accelerated in 1916 to 1917: black migrant workers from the South, southern planters, southern small-farm farmers, northern industrialists, agents, and white immigrant workers in the North. Each student group creates a "perspectives page" to post for a gallery walk where students analyze the causes of the Great Migration and the changes it brought to both the North and South. Students also discuss the specific economic factors that influenced the Great Migration: scarcity, supply, demand, surplus, shortage, and opportunity cost. Using the PACED decisionmaking model, they analyze the alternatives and criteria of potential migrants.
demand, factors of production (natural resources, labor, capital, resources), human capital, opportunity cost, scarcity, shortage, supply, surplus
In order to aid in the retrieval of information from this publication, significant tables, charts, and/or articles have been extracted and can be viewed individually or across a span of issues.
This lesson aligns with the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards, History:Perspectives (D2.His.4.6-8; D2.His.6.6-8; D2.His.4.9-12; D2.His.6.9-12; D2.His.7.9-12) and Historical Sources and Evidence (D2.His.9.9-12)
This lesson aligns with Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics, Standard 1, Scarcity: Benchmark 2, 3, and 4, Grade 8; and Benchmark 1, Grade 12
PowerPoint slides are also available for this lesson. Download them at https://www.stlouisfed.org/education/acceleration-of-great-migration
Educational resources on FRASER are provided in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and other regional Federal Reserve Banks. Unless otherwise noted, these resources are free and open for individual and classroom use, reuse, retention, and redistribution, within the terms of our Economic Education Permitted Use policy. For questions about specific use cases, please contact us.
- "Negro Women in Industry," a 1922 publication of the Women's Bureau examining the role of African-American women in manufacturing
- "Staff Picks: The 'Division of Negro Economics," 1918-1921," a FRASER blog post on the history and operations of one of the earliest government offices studying African Americans in the economy
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