During the twentieth century millions of African Americans have migrated fr
om the South to northern cities. Contrasting descriptions of this migration
stream have been presented in the literature - some emphasizing the rural
origins and lack of schooling of migrants, others claiming that migrants we
re positively selected from the southern black population. This study uses
the newly available Integrated Public Use Microdata Series to compare the e
ducational characteristics of southern migrants with (1) the southern popul
ation they left behind and (2) the northern population they joined. Consist
ent with the expectations of migration theory, and previous evidence for sp
ecific time periods, the findings show that between 1880 and 1990 black mig
rants had significantly higher levels of education than the sedentary south
ern population and significantly lower levels of education than the norther
n-born population. Both differentials grew smaller as the century progresse
d.