Virginia SOL USII.5.c
The Standard
describing the reasons for and impact of the Great Migration
Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why many African Americans left the South for northern and midwestern cities. They connect Jim Crow laws, racial violence, and job opportunities to changes in cities, culture, and race relations.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can classify push factors and pull factors using specific examples. They can explain effects such as growing Black communities, new cultural movements, political influence, and racial tension in destination cities.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think slavery caused the migration directly or that every migrant moved to New York. They may also assume northern cities offered equal treatment and no racial discrimination.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Name two reasons African Americans moved and explain two effects of their arrival in northern or midwestern cities.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Place push and pull factor cards on a floor map, then move counters from Southern states to destination cities.
Write a diary entry explaining why a Black family left the South and what it encountered in Chicago.
Play a matching game linking Jim Crow, factory jobs, urban growth, Black neighborhoods, and racial tension.
Compare a Great Migration map with current census maps of Chicago, Detroit, or New York, then identify one lasting population pattern.
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Related Standards
- WG.13.b
analyzing the causes, impacts, and responses related to migration.
- USII.3.d
explaining the events, factors, and motivations that caused individuals and groups to migrate to the United States towards the end of the 19th century
- USII.3.g
explaining how various groups worked to alleviate the issues facing new immigrants and how immigrants advocated for themselves; and
- USI.8.c
identifying geographic, economic, and religious motivations that influenced the movement of settlers
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