Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection [LC-USF33- 012345-M1]

Lee Russell

Many of the migrants leaving the South - particularly those who migrated to the Western states - were from South Central states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Between 1940 and 1950, this region experienced an emigration of African Americans that was almost three times greater than that of the previous decade. Oklahoma lost more than 70,000 people.