New PBS series examines history of Black migration in America
This photo provided by the Library of Congress is a still from the Farm Security Administration (FSA) depicting black youngsters dressed for Easter on the South Side of Chicago, April 13, 1941. It was used in the 1995 Discovery Channel mini-series documentary "The Promised Land." The series detailed the migration of millions of African Americans from the deep south to the industrial north between 1942 and 1970. AP Photo/Library of Congress/FSA/Russell Lee
Black Americans made waves in American society and culture throughout the 20th century. One part of that movement came in the form of the Great Migration. Over the course of about 60 years, millions of Black Americans left the South, making their way to cities like New York City, Washington D.C., and Chicago.
The series as a whole looks at the role movement has played in Black history, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. The four-part documentary recently finished airing and all the episodes are available on the PBS website and YouTube. Two historians who appeared in the series join the program to talk about this history and the way it runs through Illinois especially during the first wave of the Great Migration.
GUESTS
William Jones
Professor & Associate Chair, Department of History, University of Minnesota
Keneshia Grant
Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Author, "The Great Migration and the Democratic Party"