Population Shift to the Cities.

The 1920 national census revealed that the population of the United States had increased by 14 million and that — for the first time in American history — the majority of Americans resided in urban rather than rural areas. The population of New York City had passed 7 million, and the population of Los Angeles had doubled since 1910, reaching more than 1.2 million. By 1929 ninety-three cities in the United States had populations exceeding 100,000. Approximately 6 million Americans moved from farms to urban areas during the 1920s. In that number were many African Americans, who left the segregated South in search of greater economic, personal, and political freedom in northern cities.

Rural-Urban Tensions.

This population shift represented more than a demographic change. Economic, social, and political changes accompanied Americans' migration to cities. As urban areas grew and promoted their interests in the political...