The New Jersey Migration And What Came After
New Jersey, in the 1920s, was a destination for Black families from the South for reasons that were partly geographic (proximity), partly economic (industrial jobs in the urban centers), and partly social (the promise of better conditions than Jim Crow Virginia).
The Black community in New Jersey was established and growing during this period. Newark, in particular, had a significant Black community that supported Black-owned businesses, churches, schools, and social organizations. It was not the promised land — racism in the North took different forms but was real — but it offered opportunities that were simply not available in rural Princess Anne County, Virginia.
For Blount, the move to New Jersey created the possibility of continuing her education. The GED she earned required access to testing and educational resources that were more available in New Jersey than in her Virginia community. The nursing school at Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Newark required being in Newark. The Panzer College of Physical Education and Hygiene in East Orange required being in New Jersey.
The geographical specifics of the Great Migration — not just “moving north” as an abstraction but the specific destinations and the specific opportunities they enabled — were decisive for Blount’s professional development.
It is worth noting that even in New Jersey, the opportunities available to a Black woman in the medical professions were constrained. Nursing schools that accepted Black women, physical therapy programs with Black students, physical therapy positions in hospitals that employed Black therapists — none of these were guaranteed or universal. The specific institutions Blount navigated had to be willing to accept her.
That she found her way through these constraints is evidence of both her capabilities and the specific combination of determination and practical intelligence that characterized her approach to obstacles.