(CNN) -- Anita Davenport's curiosity about her family's past began with the photographs that surrounded her. She said she wanted to know the stories behind the images of her parents and uncles. Anita Davenport's grandfather, Walter, was stationed in Battle Creek, Michigan, during World War I. The stories she found -- and shared during several phone conversations from her home in Culver City, California -- parallel the African-American journey during the past century. The search took her to 1894, when her grandfather, Walter, was born in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Walter Davenport moved to Wedowee, Alabama. During World War I, Davenport was stationed at Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan, Anita said.
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For much of the 20th century, many African-Americans left the South
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Census statistics suggest many are returning to the region
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An economic boom in the Sun Belt states was a key factor, experts say
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Interactive: Explore the different African-American migrations through history
The eldest of his nine children, also named @placeholder, moved north to Battle Creek in 1951.