Cooper (From Slave to Civil War Hero, 1994, etc.) expands on the topic introduced to young readers in Jacob Lawrence's Great Migration (1993): the movement of a million rural African-Americans from the South to cities in the North between 1915 and 1930. He perceptively explores the sweeping changes that movement caused, including the creation of large African-American communities and coalitions, the growth of black-owned businesses, the increased political influence of these voters, the cultural ferment of the Harlem Renaissance, and white backlash, North and South. Despite occasional brief quotes, this is a digest rather than a documentary history, couched in general statements and focusing more on issues, organizations, and statistics than individual experiences; the systematic if impersonal result will be a workhorse in library collections but is unlikely to find a popular audience. The dim black-and-white photographs are a mixture of portraits and street scenes. (endnotes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)
