Reading Comprehension

PT148 · S2 · P2 · Q12 The Great Migration

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This passage was adapted from an article written by three economists.

Topic

The causes and momentum of the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North between 1915 and 1960.

Framework

Answer / Explain

Main Point

The Great Migration started due to increased income opportunities in the North compared to the South, but the migration continued and even accelerated because earlier migrants made it much easier and less costly for others to follow. *Most Valuable Sentence:* (Start of P3)

P1: Causes of the Great Migration

Three main factors sparked the Great Migration: World War I pushed up demand for northern industrial labor, halted European immigration forced factories to recruit Black Southerners, and the boll weevil devastated Southern cotton crops, making local jobs scarce.

P2: Initial vs. Continuing Migration

Migration began in 1915 mainly due to the large pay gap, but it’s puzzling why migration didn’t slow down—even as the North-South income gap shrank, migration rates kept increasing.

P3: Explaining Ongoing Migration (Momentum Hypothesis)

The passage proposes that migration gained "momentum": once some people migrated, they made it easier and cheaper for future migrants by reducing uncertainty, costs of moving, and the challenges of settling into a new place.

12.

The passage provides the most support for which one of the following statements?

  1. The highest-paying agricultural jobs in

    Too Specific: highest / lowest

    We don't know anything about the #1 highest paying agricultural job or the absolute lowest paying manufacturing job. We know that, on average, there was more potential to make money in Northern manufacturing jobs than in Southern agricultural jobs, but we can't compare these outlier data points at the top and bottom of each category.

    2% picked this

  2. The overall cost of migrating

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: highest-paying jobs Opposite: cost of earlier was lower The thesis of this passage was that the overall cost of migrating from the South to the North decreased as the Great Migration went on. So we would think that the overall cost of migrating for the earliest migrants was higher. This answer is suggesting the steeper costs of moving were balanced out by richer rewards, in the form of grabbing the highest-paying jobs. The passage never said that there were higher-paying jobs available for earlier migrants than for later ones.

    1% picked this

  3. Correct

    The North-South income gap increased

    Why this is right

    The last few sentences of the 1st paragraph explain the three catalysts of the Great Migration, and they include these factors: 1. higher demand for labor in the North 2. decreased supply of labor in the North via European immigrants 3. decreased demand for labor in the South (because crops were ruined) And then the 2nd paragraph begins by summarizing that "the Great Migration began in 1915 and not earlier, because it was only then that the North-South income gap became large enough to start the migration". So we know the three catalysts mentioned at the end of the 1st paragraph caused there to be a bigger-than-before income gap between North-South.

    Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    87% picked this

  4. The average wages in the

    Too Strong: for all workers

    The passage only talks about the contrast between North and South. This answer reiterates that but then delves into comparing the average wages of some workers in the South to those of other workers in the South. We have no basis for that comparison. And it's a strong idea. It would be pretty amazing if average wages held roughly steady for all workers in any area over a two decade period.

    1% picked this

  5. Most migrants in the Great

    Too Strong: most

    We know that some migrants made the trip back to the South and provided guidance about what re-locating would be like. Does the passage really specify that it was more than 50% of the people who went North? No, nothing in that final paragraph where this is discussed mentions the concept of "most".

    9% picked this

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