In the same years, some black migrants moved into the area because of opportunities to develop the bottomlands and own their own property.

California cities, a destination for black migrants from 1940-1970, have changed as well.

The state has lost black migrants for the first time in three decades.

Both white and black rural migrants were moving into rapidly industrializing cities of the South.

The long-rooted black community and the newer black migrants from the South generally stayed put.

After 1940, when the second larger wave of migration started, black migrants tended to be already urbanized, from southern cities and towns.

The bulk of mixed-race or black African migrants came later.

The book centers on the journeys of three black migrants, each representing a different decade and a different destination.

Washington called for equal employment opportunities in Detroit while urging the black migrants to adjust to urban life.

Today, these black migrants are viewed as a modern version of the Europeans who flooded America's shores in the late 1800s and early 1900s.