
PREMIERES TUESDAY, JAN 28 at 8:00 PM
GREAT MIGRATIONS: A PEOPLE ON THE MOVE, a new four-part docuseries from Emmy nominated executive producer, host, and writer Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., tells the story of African American movement over the 20th and 21st centuries, and how it has shaped our nation by exploring the meaning behind those movements. What political or economic pressures inspire people to move? Is it more often inspired by hope or fear? Is there even such a thing as a promised land?
Human beings have always moved en masse. Since the beginning of human existence, movement has defined how we evolved and created identities, communities, and nations-states. Migration is not unique to any single ethnicity or group, but it is a deeply profound aspect of the modern African American experience simply because Black people were denied movement for so long. Theirs was a forced migration from Africa, followed by centuries of enslavement that kept them in place. In being denied movement, they were denied their humanity.
“The Great Migration was not just a seismic historical event; it’s an ongoing story," said Gates. "Our series focuses on three dramatic migrations that have profoundly shaped the African American experience, and redefined what it means to be ‘Black’ in this country: the great migration from the Deep South to the North and West; the reverse migration back to the South; and most recently the astonishing large migration of Africans and West Indians to this country in recent decades. In fact, more Africans migrated to the United States in a ten-year period than were forcibly shipped here over the entire course of the slave trade! Our series is the first to explore these three mass movements of Black human beings to this country, and what that has meant for the reshaping of American culture.”
Reflecting on the series, series producers/directors, Julia Marchesi and Nailah Ife Sims share, “Over the past century, Black migration has shaped the fabric of our biggest cities, our industries, our music, our food, our politics, and so much more. It's an honor to have the opportunity to create a series that highlights just how powerful the choice to move has been for the trajectories of so many Black families, and this 'great experiment' called America."
Exploring the first wave of the Great Migration (1910-1970), the first episode of GREAT MIGRATIONS: A PEOPLE ON THE MOVE titled “Exodus” premieres on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 8:00 PM on Alabama Public Television.
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