Roughly 40 percent of the African American population of the Southern

This passage was adapted from an article written by three economists.

Roughly 40 percent of the African American population of the Southern United States left the South between 1915 and 1960, primarily for the industrial cities of the North. While there was some African American migration to the North during the nineteenth century, most accounts point to 1915 as the start of what historians call the Great Migration. There were at least three catalysts of the Great Migration. First, World War I increased labor demand in the industrial North. Second, the war in Europe cut off immigration, which led many Northern employers to send labor agents to recruit African American labor in the South. Finally, a boll weevil infestation ruined cotton crops and reduced labor demand in much of the South in the 1910s and 1920s.

In short, the Great Migration began in 1915 and not earlier, because it was only then that the North-South income gap became large enough to start such a large-scale migration. Less clear, however, is why migration continued, and even accelerated, in subsequent decades, at the same time that North-South income differences were narrowing.

We propose that once started, migration develops momentum over time as current migration reduces the difficulty and cost of future migration. Economists have typically assumed that people migrate if their expected earnings in the destination exceed those of the origin enough to outweigh the difficulties and one-time costs of migration. Previous research suggests that the difficulties and costs arise from several sources. First, the uncertainty that potential migrants face concerning housing and labor-market conditions in the destination presents a significant hindrance. Second, there is the simple cost in terms of time and money of physically moving from the origin to the destination. Third, new migrants must familiarize themselves with local labor- and housing-market institutions once they arrive; they must find housing and work, and they must often adapt to a new culture or language.

Empirical studies show that during the Great Migration, information was passed through letters that were often read by dozens of people and through conversation when migrants made trips back to their home communities. Thus early migrants provided information about labor- and housing-market conditions to friends and relatives who had not yet made the trip. First-time African American migrants often traveled with earlier migrants returning to the North after a visit to the South, which reduced physical costs. Additionally, previous migrants reduced new migrants' cost of adapting to a new locale and culture by providing them with temporary housing, food, and even credit. Previous migrants also provided a cultural cushion for later migrants, so that they did not have to struggle as hard with their new surroundings.

1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) Approximately 40 percent of the African American population left the Southern U.S. between 1915 and 1960—an event historians refer to as the Great Migration.
(B) The Great Migration was triggered by an increased labor demand in the North due to the onset of World War I and a reduced labor demand in the South due to a
boll weevil infestation.
(C) Because earlier migrants helped defray the financial costs of migration for later migrants, African American migration to the North accelerated at a time when income differences were narrowing.
(D) In migration movements, earlier migrants reduce the physical costs of moving and provide a cultural and linguistic cushion for later migrants.
(E) Although the Great Migration was initially triggered by the income differential between the North and South, other factors must be cited in order to explain its duration over several decades.


2. According to the passage, the Great Migration did not start earlier than 1915 because

(A) the income gap between the North and South was not large enough to induce people to migrate
(B) the cost of living in the North was prohibitively high before World War I
(C) industrial jobs in the North required specialized training unavailable in the South
(D) previous migration had yet to develop sufficient momentum to induce further migration
(E) agricultural jobs in the South paid very well before the boll weevil infestation


3. The third and fourth paragraphs of the passage function primarily to

(A) cast doubt upon a historical explanation presented in the first paragraph
(B) survey the repercussions of a historical event described in the first two paragraphs
(C) derive a historical model from evidence presented in the first two paragraphs
(D) answer a question raised in the second paragraph about a historical event
(E) provide additional evidence for historical claims made in the first paragraph


4. The authors of the passage would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) Expected financial gains alone may not be a reliable indicator of the likelihood that an individual will migrate.
(B) A complete explanation of the Great Migration must begin with an account of what triggered nineteenth-century migrations to the North.
(C) The Great Migration is not parallel in its broadest patterns to most other known migration movements.
(D) Most large-scale migrations can be adequately explained in terms of the movement of people from lower- to higher-income regions.
(E) Large-scale migrations generally did not occur until the early twentieth century, when significant interregional income differences arose as a result of rapid industrialization.


5. The primary purpose of the last sentence of the second paragraph is to

(A) indicate why previous research on the Great Migration has been misguided
(B) extend the authors' explanation of the causes of the Great Migration to include later events
(C) challenge the traditional view that Northern wages were higher than Southern wages prior to 1915
(D) present a fact about the Great Migration that the authors seek to explain
(E) suggest that the Great Migration cannot be explained


6. The passage provides the most support for which one agree of the following statements?

(A) The highest-paying agricultural jobs in the South prior to 1915 did not pay more than the lowest-paying manufacturing jobs in the North.
(B) The overall cost of migrating from the South to the North in the twentieth century was lower for the earliest migrants because there were more of the highest-paying jobs available for them to choose from.
(C) The North—South income gap increased around 1915 because of the increase in demand for labor in the North and the decrease in demand for labor in the South.
(D) The average wages in the South, though dramatically lower than the average wages in the North, held roughly steady for all workers during the 1910s and 1920s.
(E) Most migrants in the Great Migration made at least one trip back to the South to provide help and information to other people who were considering migrating as well.


7. Which one of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the authors' analysis of the Great Migration?

(A) The average amount of time it took new migrants to find employment in the North grew at a steady rate between 1915 and 1960.
(B) In general, communities of African Americans in the North consisted largely of individuals who shared a common geographic place of origin in the South.
(C) Housing prices in the North fluctuated between high and low extremes from 1915 to 1960, while housing prices in the South remained relatively constant. (D) To maintain a steady rate of recruitment after World War I, Northern employers had to send more and more labor agents to recruit employees in the South. (E) There was a large-scale reverse migration of African Americans back to Southern locations later in the twentieth century.