Coming to work in the city -- A job for a working man -- Dredging and drudgery -- A job for a working woman -- The living wage -- The hard work of being poor -- The consequence of failure -- The market's grasp

From 1940 to 1970, nearly four million black migrants left the American rural South to settle in the industrial cities of the North and West. Competition in the Promised Land provides a comprehensive account of the long-lasting effects of the influx of black workers on labor markets and urban...