1910

For many Mississippians, the only way to escape Jim Crow was to leave the state. Between 1910 and 1960 almost one million Black Mississippians fled to northern cities. Higher paying jobs, better schools, and some degree of social equity called to so many, that the state was over 50 percent White for the first time in more than a century.

Pictured: A black and white photograph of a Black family of eight. The family includes two men, three women, and two children. The young girl stands between the two men, and the young boy is in front of the group. There are two suitcases on the ground between the children.

Credit: Chicago History Museum, i28567