We are now witnessing in this country what may eventually prove to be another one of the famous “race migrations” of history. At intervals since the beginning of time, the tide of population on each continent has more or less suddenly turned in some particular direction. Such migrations have already marked epochs in European and Asiatic history. In our own country the discovery of gold in California started a famous westward movement of our own people; and 20 years ago California itself witnessed the beginning of what would have been another mighty folk-movement—this time of Japanese—if this tide had not been heroically checked by new immigration laws.
The new immigration which America is now watching with much excitement is the northward movement of negroes. Negroes by the thousands are leaving the farms and small towns of the South, drawn by the lure of higher wages in the North. And while this is temporarily inconveniencing numerous individuals, and it will take a little time to adjust ourselves to the new conditions, nevertheless in the long run we feel confident that this better distribution of negroes over the country will be best for both the white people and colored people of the South.
--Progressive Farmer
From the Progressive Farmer magazine, as reprinted on the front page of The Reidsville Review, Monday, June 11, 1923
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