During the first decade of the 20th century, the infestation of southern cotton crops by insects called boll weevils diminished production and curtailed the need for farm labor. The CHICAGO DEFENDER, the most influential black newspaper encouraged blacks to leave. The paper held visions of the north as the land of freedom, a dream that has been in the hearts of black men and women since slavery time -- many referred to the North as "The Promised Land" With black labor leaving the South in large numbers, southern planters tried to prevent the outflow, but were ultimately unsuccessful. They knew that the North promised relief from Ji

m Crow and other forms of racial oppression in the South, but it was difficult for African-Americans to find employment outside the South. Northern industrialists were reluctant to hire blacks when they could draw upon a seemingly unending supply of European immigrants. Soon after the outset of World War I, however Northern employers turned their attention Southward as immigration ceased and production orders began pouring in from manufacturers eager to make profits from war production. The more progressive southern employers tried to promise better pay and improved treatment. Others tried to intimidate blacks, even going so far as to board northbound trains and to attack black men and women to try to force them into returning to the South. Hundreds of thousands of blacks migrated from the South to Chicago and other cities of the North. From 1910 to 1930 between 1.5 million and 2 million African Americans left the south for the industrious cities in the north. By 1930, 200,000 blacks had moved to New York, about 180,000 to Chicago, and more than 130,000 to Philadelphia.

Under these conditions, many social conflicts gave way to an increasing sense of racial pride and cohesion. While Jim Crow laws and political terrorism continued to discourage blacks from voting in the South, African Americans in the N

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