A Moving Trend: Blacks Find There’s No Place Like Home in the South

July 28, 2011

Tamora Walker Williams – Little Rock, Arkansas

An Arkansas couple is part of what many call “The New Great Migration.”

The African-American population is on the rise and on the move. Results from 2010 U.S. Census show the Black population at 38.9 million, up by 12.3 percent from the 34.6 million reported in 2000.

Statistics also reveal a trend of blacks moving out of cities that once attracted families with the promise of jobs and a better racial climate. According to Census results, 54 percent of the African-American population is opting to live and work Southern communities. Meanwhile, 18 percent remain in the Northeast and Midwest Regions. Only ten percent of the Black population call states in the West home. In what some call a modern day “Black flight,” many African-Americans are reversing the journey their forebears took out of the South.

From Arkansas to California

Willie Porter was a toddler when his parents moved from Arkansas to California in the mid-1940s. Settling in the San fertile Joaquin Valley, the Porters picked grapes and cotton, chopped logs and, and took on other jobs to earn a living. One of eight children, Porter recalled tough times and hard work during this post-World War II period, a time made more challenging when his mother died.

“We did whatever needed to be done to get ahead,” Porter said. “Our lives were similar to the novel The Grapes of Wrath. These were hard times, people living in camps, because of no housing. Many low income families received war ration books for food, clothing, shoes, coffee, tires, gasoline and other items in limited supply.”

The family later moved to Vallejo, California working on farms and naval shipyards. It was in Merced County that Willie Porter met the love of his life, Dorothy. They shared hard work and an Arkansas connection; Dorothy’s mother was a native of Dumas. Porter enlisted in the military, serving from September 1961 to 1963 and participating in the historic “Bay of Pigs” invasion of Cuba.

The pair married July 6, 1962 and raised a son and daughter. Porter worked as a utility company construction supervisor for more than 33 years. Dorothy had a 40-year career in nursing. After raising their family in California, the Porters decided to take early retirement and return to Arkansas in 1993 to build their dream home on Porter family land.

“We have always had a love affair with the beautiful land and people of the south,” Dorothy Porter said. “We had visited several times over the years and decided since both of the children were grown and in school, we would fulfill our dream and come home.”

Full circle

Today the Porters enjoy gardening, volunteering, playing with their dog Desoto, and traveling to visit their children and grandchildren. They are faithful members of the West Central Church of Christ in Warren,.While the Porters relish the beauty and peace of Arkansas, they also treasure memories of connected communities and friendships.

“Most of my family and schoolmates have passed away, but I will always remember attending the old Cottonbelt Rosenwald School,” Willie Porter said. “We had some good times, life was simpler.”

“People were more closely knit back then,” Dorothy Porter agreed. “They visited one another and put forth more of an effort to work together. We’ve lost a lot with technology. Although we have cell phones, computers, Internet and other devices, now people are too busy to visit.”

A National Movement

Many media outlets and researchers are taking notice of the reverse migration of Blacks from the Northeast, Midwest and West to the South:
• The New York Times published an article about city dwellers heading South
• The New Republic published “Moving While Black,” in April 2011
• A Brookings Institution report tracks the trend back to the 1906s