Great Migrations: A People on The Move show's poster

Exodus

Great Migrations: A People on the Move explores the transformative impact of Black migration on American culture and society. From the waves of Black Americans to the North—and back South—over the last century to the growing number of immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean today, the film shows how movement is a defining feature of the Black experience.

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Exodus

Season 1 Episode 1 | 52m 25s | CC

Episode one of Great Migrations explores the first wave of the Great Migration (1910-1940), a collective leap into the unknown as more than a million Black Americans fled the Jim Crow South for the promised lands of the North. In the face of some of the country’s worst racist violence, these migrants established thriving Black neighborhoods, wielded political power, and redefined American culture.

Corporate support for GREAT MIGRATIONS: A PEOPLE ON THE MOVE is provided by Bank of America, Ford Motor Company and Johnson & Johnson. Major support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Support is also provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional support was provided by the Inkwell Society together with many of its members, and by public television viewers.