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Housing for the Negroes was a very difficult problem

Although the Negro was used to lynching, he found this an opportune time for him to leave where one had occurred

The labor agent who had been sent South by Northern industry was a very familiar person in the Negro counties

Another of the social causes of the migrants' leaving was that at times they did not feel safe, or it was not the best thing to be found on the streets late at night. They were arrested on the slightest provocation

Child labor and a lack of education was one of the other reasons for people wishing to leave their homes

And people all over the South began to discuss this great movement

In many of the communities the Negro press was read continually because of its attitude and its encouragement of the movement

The migrants arrived in great numbers

They arrived in great numbers into Chicago, the gateway of the West

The railroad stations in the South were crowded with people leaving for the North

The World War had caused a great shortage in Northern industry and also citizens of foreign countries were returning home

The Negro press was also influential in urging the people to leave the South

Industries attempted to board their labor in quarters that were oftentimes very unhealthy. Labor camps were numerous

One of the largest race riots occurred in East St. Louis

Race riots were very numerous all over the North because of the antagonism that was caused between the Negro and white workers. Many of these riots occurred because the Negro was used as a strike breaker in many of the Northern industries

They did not always leave because they were promised work in the North. Many of them left because of Southern conditions, one of them being great floods that ruined the crops, and therefore they were unable to make a living where they were

The Negro was the largest source of labor to be found after all others had been exhausted

They also made it very difficult for migrants leaving the South. They often went to railroad stations and arrested the Negroes wholesale, which in turn made them miss their train

The railroad stations were at times so over-packed with people leaving that special guards had to be called in to keep order

The migration gained in momentum

The trains were packed continually with migrants

They also worked in large numbers on the railroad

In every home people who had not gone North met and tried to decide if they should go North or not

And the migrants kept coming