Johnson, Luther H. | Urban League of Pittsburgh Records, 1915-1963
Historical Context
On Wednesday morning, December 13, 1922, African Americans across the country noticed in their newspapers a short article proclaiming abundant employment opportunities in Pittsburgh for married southern Black men willing to settle there. Reprinted in major Black weeklies in the South and North, the article promised assistance to Black men and their families who settled in the Steel City.
Prospective migrants from Savannah to Houston read with interest as the local Urban League head, John T. Clark, described good-paying jobs in the steel mills of western Pennsylvania, and over the next few weeks they flooded Clark’s office with hundreds of letters seeking additional information about wages and working conditions, available housing, labor relations, and the climate. Among other things, these letters highlight the agency of southern migrants, who gathered information to help them make informed, calculated decisions about whether, when, and where to migrate.
The original article is linked below, along with a selection of letters sent to Clark.
Source: “Pittsburgh Wants Men with Families,” New York Amsterdam News, December 13, 1922; migrant letters to John T. Clark, 1922–23, reel 5, John T. Clark Papers, Carter Woodson Collection, Library of Congress.