John McCord – His role in the Great Migration to Beloit

"When John McCord made the decision to leave his home and family in the south it is doubtful he was aware of the role he would someday play within the “Great Migration.” McCord, a native of Pontotoc, Mississippi, made the decision to migrate north after overhearing a conversation between his parents and a well-dressed man by the name of Jasper Weatherall who moved to the north and was back in the Pontotoc area to visit relatives. -1"

(The above statement is an excerpt from a thesis by Lucas W. Knowles, a student at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, entitled: Beloit, Wisconsin and The Great Migration The Role of Industry, Individuals and Family in The Founding of Beloit’s Black Community 1914-1955)

John McCord was employed at Fairbanks Morse & Company as a janitor in 1914. When World War I erupted in 1914, the demand for diesel engines grew driving the need for more workers at Fairbanks Morse. Eugene Burlingame, the company’s personnel manager, recognized the pool of cheap labor coming from the south to larger cities, but his attempts to recruit from these southern states was unsuccessful. 

John saw an opportunity to help his family and friends escape the Jim Crow South, to assist Burlingame in his dilemma, and also advance himself at Fairbanks Morse. He went to Burlingame with a proposition to use his hometown influence to recruit the men of Pontotoc and those in neighboring towns. John offered to travel to Mississippi and meet with workers face-to-face, screen them, and accompany them to Beloit for employment at Fairbanks. Burlingame liked what he heard and McCord began recruiting. 

In the summer of 1916, John planned a visit back to Pontotoc to see his parents and also to bring back more good workers like him at Burlingame’s request. 

John McCord brought 18 single men back to Beloit with him. He made four trips south between 1916-1918 as a recruiter for Fairbanks. According to the 1920 U.S. census, Beloit had a population of 21,284, of which 834 were African Americans. The increase was due in part to the recruitment of workers by Fairbanks and also families encouraging their relatives, who were still living down south, to move to Beloit. 

The number of men John McCord recruited out of the south is unknown. It can be said that this was the beginning of the Great Migration to Beloit for many African Americans. 

Their minds were clothed with promising thoughts of a better life and future for themselves and their families. Bound for an unknown city, their fears were no doubt conquered by the desire for an opportunity to escape the Jim Crow laws of the South.