This article contends that contrary to what was thought at the time, the migration of large numbers of Afro-Americans to urban areas during the First Great Migration (1900–1920) failed in many instances to cause the severing of affective bonds of kinship and friendship. Instead blacks devised a number of adaptive strategies that enabled them to maintain contact with those deemed important The present findings also reveal the complex nature of the migratory process and the central role played by women in maintaining family and friendship ties despite geographic separation.
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