Chicago Black Population Triples During WWI as Great Migration Transforms the City

Chicago's Black population grew from 44,000 in 1910 to 109,000 by 1920, a 148% increase driven by the Great Migration. Migrants were recruited by Chicago meatpacking companies and steel mills facing labor shortages due to WWI cutting off European immigration. Black newcomers were crowded into the South Side 'Black Belt' through a combination of restrictive covenants, real estate steering, and violence against those who moved outside designated areas. The spatial concentration of Black poverty and opportunity in the Black Belt created both vibrant cultural institutions and conditions for the 1919 riot.