Reading Comprehension

PT148 · S2 · P2 · Q7 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.

7.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

  1. Approximately 40 percent of the

    Wrong Emphasis: just background

    This is just telling us that a Great Migration occurred. Yes, that was the topic, but the author's purpose in writing it wasn't to establish that it occurred. She is trying to solve the causal mystery of why it continued longer than the economic incentives might suggest it should have. This answer choice has nothing to do with providing an answer to the question of, "Why did the Great Migration continue even once the income gap of North over South shrunk?"

    2% picked this

  2. The Great Migration was triggered

    Wrong Emphasis: too narrow

    This is telling us why the Great Migration occurred, but the author's main purpose was to provide an answer to the question of, "Why did the Great Migration continue even once the income gap of North over South shrunk?" This answer doesn't deal with solving the mystery of why the Great Migration continued.

    1% picked this

  3. Because earlier migrants helped defray

    Too Narrow

    This is closer to providing an answer to the question of "How come the Great Migration continued even once income differences were narrowing." It is true that earlier migrants helped defray the financial costs. But that was just part of the author's explanation. The end of the 3rd paragraph lists 3 different challenges that migrants face, and the 4th paragraph explains how earlier migrants helped later migrants ameliorate those challenges. But this answer is just pointing to ONE of those three challenges and elevating it to the main point.

    15% picked this

  4. In migration movements, earlier migrants

    Wrong Emphasis: Too Broad

    This main topic of this passage was the Great Migration, and this answer doesn't even mention it. Sometimes we feel like we should make the Main Point some "deep" takeaway like this ... a transcendent principle that could apply to other passages as well. But we shouldn't. If the main character of this passage was the Great Migration then it should absolutely be in the main point answer.

    3% picked this

  5. Correct

    Although the Great Migration was

    Why this is right

    The warmup clause to this answer covers the first paragraph, and the main clause of this paragraph covers the rest of the passage. This gets at our central question of, "Why did the Great Migration continue even after the income differential catalyst had basically disappeared?" This is broad enough (compared to choice C), that it can encapsulate the three different causal factors the author highlighted.

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

    79% picked this

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