Milwaukee's Migrant Families - A Black Nouveau Special

Send us Fan MailBetween 1916 and 1970, roughly six million African-Americans living in the South uprooted their families to migrate to cities in the West and North. They came seeking the promise of a better life; escape from racial violence, better jobs, higher wages, and better educational opportunities. Milwaukee and Wisconsin began to feel the shift in the 1940s. Just before WWII, Milwaukee’s Black population totaled about 1.5 percent. By 1950 that number had increased to 3.5 per cent, approximately 22,000 people. By 1970 the number had ballooned to 103,000 people, and by the turn of the century, Milwaukee’s Black population exceeded 200,000 people. “Milwaukee s Migration Families” talks with Black residents who left the South for a better life; and first and second generation Milwaukeeans currently living here to find out whether things actually improved for them by coming here.Find more programs at https://www.milwaukeepbs.org/stream