Oklahoma Social Studies 8.C.13.3.D
The Standard
- 8.C.13
- Analyze the political, social, and economic transformations during the Reconstruction Era.
- 8.C.13.3
- Analyze the emerging social structure of the postwar South.
Describe the migration of African Americans from the discriminatory conditions of the South to opportunities in the north and west.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · 8.C.13.3
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why many African Americans left the South and why they chose cities in the North and West. They trace migration routes and describe what migrants found when they arrived.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can point to a route from Mississippi to Chicago or from Texas to Los Angeles. They can explain how Southern discrimination pushed families to leave and how jobs drew them to new cities. They know discrimination did not end after the move.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think everyone left for the same reason or moved at the same time. They may assume Northern and Western cities offered equal treatment because they offered more jobs.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A Mississippi family moves to Chicago in 1920. Name one condition that pushed them to leave, one opportunity that drew them, and one challenge they might still face.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a blank U.S. map and city labels; have them draw arrows from Southern states to Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles.
Ask: Would a factory job in Detroit end discrimination for a family leaving Mississippi? Write two sentences explaining your answer.
Give pairs cards labeled sharecropping, segregation, factory jobs, and family already in Chicago; have them sort the cards into reasons to leave or reasons to go.
Show a historical factory job ad and a current local job ad; have students circle each ad’s promises and discuss what an ad leaves out.
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Related Standards
- 3.C.3.2.C
Explain how many African Americans migrated to Oklahoma, considering it an opportunity where farming communities, businesses, and schools could grow (e.g., hist...
- 3.C.3.2.B
Describe continued migration by various newcomers to the region, such as the Boomer Movement, identifying different points of view held by American Indians and ...
- 2.C.2.4
Describe why people from various places and cultures have migrated to the United States of America (e.g., improved quality of life, economic opportunities, indi...
- OKH.C.4.2
Examine the continued migration of African Americans to the region and describe the outcome of a proposed all-Black state, as advocated by Edward McCabe.
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