Early in the Great Migration of 1910–1970, which involved the mass migration of Black people from the southern to the northern United States, political activist and Chicago Defender writer Fannie Barrier Williams was instrumental in helping other Black women establish themselves in the North. Many women hoped for better employment opportunities in the North because, in the South, they faced much competition for domestic employment and men tended to get agricultural work. To aid with this transition, Barrier Williams helped secure job placement in the North for many women before they even began their journey.