A Modern Shift Mirrors the Great Migration as Black Workers Turn Towards Entrepreneurship and Self-Determination
During the 20th century, approximately from the early 1910s to roughly the 1970s, 5-6 million African Americans moved from the South to the Northern, Midwestern, and Western states. This mass exodus was driven by the escape racial violence, pursue economic and educational opportunities, and obtain freedom from the oppression of Jim Crow.
”It’s Time to Pivot and Bet on Themselves”
Today, there is a different kind of Great Migration happening, with some of the same motivations. There is a rising number of Black professionals walking away from corporate America. Writer Jahaura Michelle, in her 2026 article for The Grio, “Why Black Professionals Are Walking Away From Corporate America And Not Looking Back”, writes, “Black professionals are leaving fast-paced corporate culture behind and betting on themselves through entrepreneurship… For them, leaving isn’t a sign of failure; it’s deliberately choosing to take control of their careers, prioritize mental health and build something that reflects their values… Those revelations often come years after navigating workplaces, and they realize it’s time to pivot and bet on themselves.”
A By-Product of The Great Migration
It’s interesting that this is occurring nearly a century after the aforementioned Great Migration because the motivation this time was a by-product of what happened then. One of the results of Black families migrating from the South is that there was an economic development happening within the Black communities. With new career opportunities such as healthcare, business, politics, and education, there was an emergence of more Black doctors, lawyers, mayors, teachers, bankers, and more. The possibilities of what could be achieved was changing and it was providing any Black professionals access to spaces they hadn’t had before.
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According to a 2018 University of Michigan study, “the children of African American families who left the South during the Great Migration graduated from high school at a rate 11% higher than their Southern counterparts. Additionally, the children of African American families who left the South during the Great Migration earned about $1,000 more per year in 2017 dollars and were 11% less likely to be in poverty.”
”The Only One in The Room”
The legacy of those families has become the current state of Black professionals today. There are more Black professionals across various industries than there have ever been before in history. Yet, in the mid 2020s, amongst vast educational and economic mobility, Black professionals are leaving the spaces they once fought so hard to be in.
Michelle continues in her article, “many Black employees in corporate settings felt the pressures of being “the only one in the room,” code-switching and shouldering the emotional labor of having to navigate predominantly white spaces…they feel the constant pressure of having to conform in order to survive in these spaces at the expense of their mental health, authenticity and well-being.”
Black Employment Today
Today, there are many Black professionals who are facing career and financial uncertainty with Black women being the highest demographic group that experienced high numbers of layoffs. For some, entrepreneurship became an opportunity out of necessity and out of survival. Exemplifying the African American aphorism “make a way out of no way”.
This mass migration from corporate America is a classic example of a toxic workplace. Black professionals have stomached microaggressions, harassment, coercion, and retaliation long before these terms were coined. On the shoulders of the ancestors that came before them, they are moving on and moving up.
