Where did African American's live before the great migration?

Before the Great Migration, which began around 1916, many African Americans primarily lived in the rural Southern United States. They were largely concentrated in states like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and South Carolina, where they worked as sharecroppers or in other agricultural jobs. The oppressive conditions of Jim Crow laws, economic hardship, and limited opportunities prompted many to seek better lives in Northern and Western cities during the migration.