Urbanization
An Urbanization Story
• Henry Ford was only
sixteen when he emigrated
from his family’s farm in
Dearborn, Michigan to
Detroit, in 1879.
• There he worked as an
apprentice machinist for 3
years.
• For the next 9 years, he
repaired farm implements,
worked on his family’s farm,
and occasionally worked in
Detroit factories.
First Official Ford Motor Company Portrait of
Henry Ford, 1904
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
ID#THF36449
An Urbanization Story
• Henry Ford migrated
to the city
permanently in 1891.
• He went on to provide
jobs in Detroit
factories for millions
of people, many of
whom, like him, grew
up on farms.
Crowd of Applicants outside Highland
Park Plant after Five Dollar Day
Announcement, January 1914
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
ID#THF4402
Define:
Migration
Emigration
Urbanization
Farm Life at the Turn of the
20th Century
• Hard labor from
sunup to sundown.
• Different tasks from
day to day, and
season to season.
• Most people working
on family farms
owned the operation
and were their own
bosses.
Hay Wagon Coming up from a Meadow,
Flushing, NY, circa 1900
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
ID#THF38312
Farm Life is Changing…
Pushes From the Farm
• New machines and
technology save labor
on the farm BUT…
• Now there is less
work in rural areas.
• There are not jobs in
rural areas when
children grow up.
Fordson Tractor, 1917, Used by Luther
Burbank
From the Collections of The Henry
Ford. ID# THF72058
Factories are Changing…
Pulls to the City
• Luckily for them,
machines and
technology have also
created new jobs in
the city in factories
and industries.
• If these people come
work in factories, they
have jobs and
Gas-Steam Engine, 1916, Used to Generate
manufacturers have
Electricity at Highland Park Plant
employees.
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
ID# THF52667
From South to North
• The southern United
States, being mostly
farms, experienced
this pull from the
more industrialized
North’s cities.
• Both African
Americans and whites
migrated from the
rural South to the
urban North.
Workers in Ford Rouge Plant Cyanide
Foundry, 1931
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
ID#THF68318
The Great Migration
• African-Americans were
also pushed by racism
and a lack of education
opportunities for their
children.
• The movement of AfricanAmericans from the
South to the Northeast,
Midwest, and West is
known as the Great
Migration.
Mattox House in Greenfield Village. Built
about 1880 in Bryan County, Georgia.
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
ID# THF70905
Why Families Left Home
Image Source: Forrester B.
Washington. The Negro in Detroit.
1920. Available via Google Books.