When we consider the various classes migrating,
however, it will be apparent that to understand the exodus of the Negroes
to the North, this longer drawn out and smaller movement must be carefully
studied in all its ramifications. It should be noted that unlike some of
the other migrations it has not been directed to any particular State. It
has been from almost all Southern States to various parts of the North and
especially to the largest cities.[20]
What classes then have migrated? In the first place, the Negro
politicians, who, after the restoration of Bourbon rule in the South,
found themselves thrown out of office and often humiliated and
impoverished, had to find some way out of the difficulty. Some few have
been relieved by sympathetic leaders of the Republican party, who secured
for them federal appointments in Washington. These appointments when
sometimes paying lucrative salaries have been given as a reward to those
Negroes who, although dethroned in the South, remain in touch with the
remnant of the Republican party there and control the delegates to the
national conventions nominating candidates for President. Many Negroes of
this class have settled in Washington.[21] In some cases, the observer
witnesses the pitiable scene of a man once a prominent public functionary
in the South now serving in Washington as a messenger or a clerk.
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