Between 1900 and 1930 more than 1 million African Americans moved from the South to big cities in the North like Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City and Detroit. They left to escape laws that did not give them their rights. They left to escape violence against African Americans. They also left to find jobs in factories that paid better than what they could earn in cotton fields. Although African Americans faced bad treatment in the North, too, the chances for education and a good job were greater than in the South.