Coming to America
Episode 4 of Great Migrations tells the story of African and Caribbean immigrants in the 20th and 21st centuries. It traces their journeys to the United States, the contributions they have made to the nation’s economy and culture, and how they have impacted what it means to be Black in America.
Episodes
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Coming to America
S1 E4 - 52m 55s
Episode 4 of Great Migrations tells the story of African and Caribbean immigrants in the 20th and 21st centuries. It traces their journeys to the United States, the contributions they have made to the nation’s economy and culture, and how they have impacted what it means to be Black in America.
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One Way Ticket Back
S1 E3 - 52m 25s
Episode 3 of Great Migrations reflects on how the 1970s marked a turning point in American history. For the first time in 60 years, more Black people were moving to the South than leaving it. Driven by mass movements and economic change, the reverse migration shows how Black Americans’ never-ending search for freedom and opportunity continues to shape the country today.
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Streets Paved with Gold
S1 E2 - 52m 25s
Episode 2 of Great Migrations explores the second wave of the Great Migration (1940-1970) within the context of World War II and its aftermath. It traces how Northern and Western Black communities evolved through migration, which intensified housing tensions while also transforming the cultural and political power of Black America.
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Exodus
S1 E1 - 52m 25s
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.
Extras + Features
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Immigrant Students at HBCUs
S1 E4 - 6m 36s
In 1924 the U.S. passed its most restrictive and biased immigration laws in history. Despite restrictions, a number of Africans were sent to the U.S. temporarily for education in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. They often attended HBCUs where they had meaningful exchanges with African Americans.
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New Legislation
S1 E4 - 2m 38s
A little known, but important civil rights era law passed in 1965, which got rid of the ethnically-biased immigration laws of the 1920s. No one knew how much it would change the demographics of incoming immigrants.
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The Odewales
S1 E4 - 2m 35s
Skip goes to Houston, TX where a large Nigerian Immigrant population resides, and he meets with restaurateur, Rasak Odewale. They discuss how his life has changed since immigrating to the U.S., including meeting and starting a family with his wife Tiffany.
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Haitian Migration to the US
S1 E4 - 7m 14s
Beginning in the 1970s, South Florida saw a wave of asylum-seeking Haitians fleeing political repression, which would reveal remaining bias and inconsistency in the American immigration system.
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How the Housing Crisis Impacted the Great Migration
S1 E3 - 4m 29s
Housing had always been inadequate in the Northern Black neighborhoods of the Great Migration but there were even more sinister forces at work: government policies that sought to keep neighborhoods segregated by race – or destroy Black neighborhoods altogether.
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The 1967 Detroit Uprising
S1 E3 - 2m 38s
The 1967 Detroit uprising was one of the most violent of the 20th century, and it was rooted in a series of grievances, first and foremost, persistent police harassment.
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Westward Migration
S1 E2 - 2m 13s
The second wave of the great migration saw people not only traveling north but increasingly West, which provided a different flavor of freedom.
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How Southern Segregationists Reacted to Freedom Riders
S1 E2 - 3m 57s
How the White Citizen Council, a southern segregationist group, exploited Black Southerners and took action to slow the growth of the civil rights movement.
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The Red Summer
S1 E1 - 4m 57s
The Red Summer of 1919 was one of the most volatile periods of our nation’s history but one of the lesser known stories is how in the midst of some of the country’s worst racist violence, Black people fought back.
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The Fallout of the Red Summer
S1 E1 - 4m 11s
By the summer of 1919, racial tensions in Chicago reached a boiling point. When white people attacked, Black people fought back.
Schedule
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