MIGRATION PATTERNS
Standard Indicator 8-5.7
Post Civil War Westward Expansion
Included:
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Movement of people from region to region
Immigration from Europe and Asia
Migration of African Americans to the West
(Exodusters)
South Carolinians:
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Freedmen & poor whites did not have money to
move West
Stayed in state & used available land & economic
opportunity
Motivation for settlers from East &
foreign countries moving West:
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Free land through Homestead Act (Quiz to follow)
Cheap land sales
Jobs building railroads to the West
Easy access for farmers to new markets
Aggressive advertising
Reasons for migration within SC:
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Depressed Economic conditions (push factor)
Low prices for crops (push factor)
Availability of textile mill jobs (pull factor)
Reasons for African Americans
outmigration from SC:
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Mill jobs in SC not open to AA (push factor)
Depressed agricultural economy (push factor)
Boll weevil destroyed crops (push factor)
Social discrimination (push factor)
Jim Crow segregation (push factor)
Increasing violence (push factor)
Factory jobs in North and Midwest (pull factor)
20th C. wars, economic opportunity (pull factor)
Foreign Immigration to SC:
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Few came to SC
Depressed economic conditions in agriculture meant
few opportunities
Lack of available land
Lack of industrial jobs
Mills had supply of dispossessed farmers seeking
jobs
Immigrants who did come made contributions by
establishing businesses (Ex: The State Newspaper)
Foreign Immigration to Cities of
Northeast & Midwest:
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Some moved to plains to farm
Most moved to cities to work in factories
Too poor to move beyond port cities, their point of
entrance
Ethnic neighborhoods developed as they looked
for the familiar in a strange new land
They established churches, schools, businesses, &
newspapers
Impact of Immigration on Urban
Politics:
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Established immigrants , helped new arrivals find
jobs & housing
Political party bosses developed machines that
depended on votes of grateful immigrants
Bosses were corrupt using graft & bribery to award
city contracts
Bosses also helped new immigrants adapt to life in
the US
Immigrant power helped bosses solve urban
problems
South Carolina Political Machine
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Controlled by Tillmanite faction of Democratic Party
Used graft & corruption
Controlled the votes through disenfranchisement of
African Americans
Used racist rhetoric
Gave voice to common white farmer
To counter this AA community developed
organizations & churches for support & protection
from white political machine
Restrictions on Immigration:
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Due to racial hostility like that against AA
Resulted in Nativist movement
Anti new immigrants: Southern & Eastern Europeans
Their immigration increased & they were different
from old immigrants from Ireland & Germany
Literacy tests & Quotas proposed, but not pass until
20th C.
Nativism is Northern counterpart to anti-AA
prejudices in SC
Effect of racial/ethnic diversity on national identity
late 19th/early 20th C.
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Solidified belief in “white superiority”
“100% Americanism”
Social Darwinism intellectual justification for white
supremacy
In later 20th C. immigrants & AA finally
recognized for contributions to strengthen
democracy & the richness of American culture