Evaluating the Great Migration

For almost 55 years, thousands upon thousands of black Americans from the South left their homes in search of a better future for themselves and their children. Their shared motivation was the inability to live with Jim Crow laws that made life intolerable, from very basic, day-to-day challenges and cruelties to the larger questions of education and success. Their dreams were not necessarily realized in the urban cities of the North, however. Now, we ask, how does this history inform our lives today?

At a recent event, Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, was interviewed by Sherrilyn Ifill, civil rights lawyer and Open Society Institute–Baltimore board member.

Listen above.