The Great Migration was a high-impact mass movement of African American families and individuals from their roots in the Deep South to the more liberal cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and West. Despite the problems they encountered while leaving, hundreds of thousands of people left behind everything they knew and loved in hopes of finding better opportunities for themselves and their descendants. Not only did the Great Migration bring about a major shift in national demographics, but it ultimately changed the socioeconomic conditions of all citizens of the United States, black and white. Living conditions for African Americans in the South were still extremely poor nearly 100 years after the end. of the Civil War. Because regional and state legislation retains the ability to make civil rights decisions, minimal progress has been made. “Jim Crow” laws directly endangered black citizens and severely limited their rights, allowing whites to maintain dominance over social and economic conditions in the South. These laws included specifics such as the poll tax, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and segregation. Political conditions overall led to a rigid two-tier system that placed blacks as second-class citizens (Cassedy). Economic inequality also contributed to the mistreatment of African American citizens. After the abolition of slavery, sharecropping became widespread. Sharecropping involved former slaves, or their descendants, renting land from plantation owners and cultivating it in exchange for high commissions. A single bad year could tip the scales towards total poverty, either due to the imbalance between supply and demand, or crop failure resulting from extreme weather conditions or pests. Overall...... half of the document ......n during the Migration the foundations were laid for modern systematic inequality, such as redlining and housing subsidies for white neighborhoods (Adelmann). Overall, the Great Migration culminated in an enormous alteration of the human condition of both blacks and whites in America. Works Cited Adelmann, Larry. “Racial Preferences for Whites: The Houses Built by Racism.” PBS.org. Public Broadcasting Service, June 29, 2003. Web. May 4, 2014.Cassedy, James G. “Prologue: Special Issue on Federal Documents and African American History.” Archives.gov. National Archives and Records Administration, Summer 1997. Web. May 11, 2014. Crew, Spencer R. “The Great Migration of African Americans, 1915-40.” BLS.gov. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web.Wilkerson, Isabel. “Great Migration: The African American Exodus North.” NPR. National Public Radio, 13 September 2012. Web. 6 May 2014.