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Title: The Great Migration and Changes in the Northern Black Family, 1940 to 1990

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 1997

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Abstract: There is a strong tradition in the social sciences that links the migration of southern [U.S.] blacks to northern cities with changes in family structure in the North. This article examines that assumption by comparing the living arrangements of children and women for migrants and nonmigrants in northern central cities. Data from the newly available Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, for the period 1940 through 1990, are used for this purpose. The findings show that northern urbanites with `southern origins' actually exhibited more traditional family patterns--more children living with two parents, more ever-married women living with their spouses, and fewer never-married mothers. It is concluded that the evidence yields no support for the longstanding assumption that southern migrants contributed disproportionately to changes in the African American family in northern cities during this century.

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Authors: Tolnay, Stewart E.

Periodical (Full): Social Forces

Issue: 4

Volume: 75

Pages: 1213-1238

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage, Migration and Immigration, Race and Ethnicity

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