How did the Second Great Migration differ from the First Great Migration?

• A. It was post-World War II movement to urban North and West for jobs
• B. It was a movement within the rural South to the Deep South to industrial centers
• C. It occurred in the 1870s during Reconstruction
• D. It involved migration to the West Coast for gold mining

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how the timing and destinations of the two Great Migrations differ. The best description is that the Second Great Migration happened after World War II, sending large numbers of African Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North and West to take jobs in factories and defense industries. This reflects wartime and postwar economic growth and broadens destinations to include West Coast cities as well as northern ones.

In contrast, the First Great Migration occurred earlier, roughly from the 1910s through the 1930s, with many leaving the rural South for Northern and Midwestern cities in search of factory work and to escape Jim Crow conditions, while the West Coast was not a primary destination.

Other descriptions don’t fit the pattern: a Reconstruction-era movement in the 1870s is far too early; moving within the rural South or toward the Deep South isn’t the cross-regional shift that defines these migrations; and gold mining on the West Coast reflects earlier frontier movements, not the Great Migration era.