USA: In a reversal, more blacks moving back to South

So, after the great Black African America migration to the North from 1910, they're slowly returning South. Now, if I were living in the South, I wouldn't be too happy. Firstly, now that the North is ruined by welfare and crime, they want to return to the more stable Southern states - yes, those same racist states that they once fled in protest! Secondly, they bring with them that wonderful record of voting 95% for the Democrats. Yup, methinks the South is screwed. If the Hispanic influx isn't about to kill off these Southern states, then this may be the final nail...

WASHINGTON — The Great Migration, the 60-year escape from segregation and racism that brought American blacks to the North, has reversed course. Better jobs and quality of life in the South are beckoning, as is the lure of something more intangible — a sense of home.

"It's no coincidence that the shift is happening as we encounter economic turmoil that is being felt disproportionately among blacks, such as mortgage foreclosures, loss of jobs and economic devastation in major Northern hubs," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau. "With major changes and less racial devastation in the South, people are finding their way back."

The nation's black population grew by roughly 1.7 million over the last decade. About 75 percent of that growth occurred in the South — primarily metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami and Charlotte, N.C. That's up from 65 percent in the 1990s, according to the latest census estimates. The gains came primarily at the expense of Northern metro areas such as New York and Chicago, which posted their first declines in black population since at least 1980.

Illinois had its first decline in the black population in the state's history, with the number of African-Americans decreasing by 1.3 percent since 2000, according to official 2010 census figures released Tuesday.

In all, about 57 percent of U.S. blacks now live in the South, a jump from the 53 percent share in the 1970s, according to an analysis of census data by William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. It was the surest sign yet of a sustained reverse migration to the South following the exodus of millions of blacks to the Midwest, Northeast and West in the Great Migration from 1910 to 1970.

"The Great Migration of millions of disenfranchised blacks from the South to Northern cities has now completely turned around," Frey said. "Blacks now look to states like Georgia, Texas and North Carolina as the places with the most promise in the 21st century — a prospect that would have been unimaginable a generation ago."

Historically, the South was home to roughly 90 percent of the nation's blacks from 1790 until 1910, when African-Americans began to migrate northward to escape racism and seek jobs in industrial centers such as Detroit, New York and Chicago during World War I. After the decades-long Great Migration, the share of blacks in the South hit a low of about 53 percent in the 1970s, before civil rights legislation and the passage of time began to improve the social climate in the region.

The current 57 percent share of blacks living in the South is the highest level since 1960.

Frey noted that the continued Southern migration of blacks, who tend to vote Democratic, could have political implications as they flow into mostly Republican-leaning states. In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama was able to win in traditionally GOP-leaning states such as Virginia, North Carolina and Florida after a jump in black voter turnout.


Read more here