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Urban Destination Selection among African Americans during the 1950sGreat Migration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Townsand Price-Spratlen
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Abstract

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This article examines a place utility model of how destination assets influencedinmigration for the 1950s African American urban system. Archival andhistoriographical data are combined with census data to conduct weightedleast-squares regressions that compare economic, ethnogenic, and other placeutilities. Despite declines in migrant selectivity and net southernout-migration, ethnogenic characteristics increased the size of in-migrantstreams during the 1950s, net of the momentum from prior migration and, mostimportant, net of economic and demographic place utilities. Even as severaldramatic changes began or intensified during the period, ethnogenic attractionscontinued to shape destination selection during this “bridge”decade of civil rights–era migration.

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Articles
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Social Science History , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , Fall 2008 , pp. 437 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2008 

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