Rethinking Rural to Urban Migration in the South Article Critique (Article Critique Sample)

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Headed for Louisville: Rethinking Rural to Urban Migration in the South, 1930-1950.” Journal of Social History, 40.2 (2006), 407-430.
The article is titled “Headed for Louisville: Rethinking Rural to Urban Migration in the South, 1930-1950.” Journal of Social History, volume 40, issue number 2 (Winter2006), pages 407-430 and has been written by Adams Luther. The author Adams Luther was an assistant professor and he associated with the University of Washingtonian Tacoma. Adams Luther had PhD in history from the University of Pennsylvania. Before studying for his PhD, Luther had a B.A in History from the University of Louisville. Adams Luther has written different historical articles including those on African American history. Other articles by Adams Luther include “Way up Louisville”, “Visitations”, and “The Place Where You Go to Listen” (Mari 4).
The article “Headed for Louisville: “Rethinking Rural to Urban Migration in the South, 1930-1950” is about the rural urban migration of more than 17000 immigrants. The article starts from the point at which migration from the rural south to urban south was at its peak, and the rate of unemployment was increasing. The focus of the article was on the necessity of perception of African Americans. Author wants the readers to understand the uniqueness of the second grate migration which is due to an increase black American population. Unlike the other migration, Luther wants the readers to realise the fact that most of the migrants were from urban places and not from the south. In addition, the reader has to understand the patterns of migrations involving African Americans as it offers a good analysis of the urbanisation process of African Americans. Furthermore, there is the need to understand the various challenges that were faced by the African Americans during their migration from the southern and urban places. For example, the writer notes that unemployment problem was among the major ones facing migrants (Luther 410).
The main point of view of the author is that challenges of unemployment were faced by both African Americans from rural south and urban south. Hence, the author does not present an alternative point of view since in the whole article he focused on the immigration of black Americans. Although the article lacks a well-structured research question or thesis statement because it starts from the middle, the flow of ideas is logical. When a person reads from one paragraph to the other, it is possible to connect the ideas of the writer and understand the main theme of urban migration and the challenges of the second great migration. This implies that the paragraphs are smoothly structured and not biased. In order to make the readers understand and appreciate the points, the author uses tables to demonstrate the immigration patterns in some parts of the country. For example, table 1.3 shows the migration percentages of African Americans in selected cities. This is aimed at enhancing the understanding of the reader on the theme of migration and its challenges.
The author follows a geographical organisation of the work as well as thematic organisation. For example, the author has presented the migration of black Americans in different parts of the south and in other parts of America. Although the author focuses on migration, he is more concerned on the challenges facing migration for African Americans. He focuses on the theme of migration in the south mostly. This enables him to set his ideas in a sequential manner making it easy for the reader to flow from one idea to another. In order to support his arguments in the article, the author has used various sources, a combination of references including books, journals, interviews on African American migrations in the south and the challenges faced by migrants. The variation of the sources lies in the fact that they are comprised of different types. This means that the author did not entirely depend on a particular type of reference such as journals or books, but on a combination of different sources in order to validate and support his arguments. ...