In Motion The African-American Migration Experience

Underpinning today's diverse and vibrant African-American community are two forced and eleven voluntary migrations to, within, and out of the United States. All of them are chronicled and brought to life in In Motion through archival photos and documents as well as firsthand accounts. This story of migration begins with the slave trade and the early struggle for freedom. Then following the Civil War and throughout the 20th century, millions of African Americans set off in search of better lives-colonists left the United States to settle in Africa and other parts of the Americas; Southerners migrated west and north for jobs; and, finally, African Americans returned south to reclaim their heritage. And the fabric of the community continued to take shape as new waves of immigrants from the Caribbean, Africa, and South America arrived. Through excerpts from letters, news articles, and interviews, listen to the stories of enslaved men and women, runaways, and migrants. You will come to understand what motivated those who stayed and those who left. And you will come to understand the tremendous risks taken and sacrifices made in search of justice, opportunity, and a sense of identity and belonging.Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is the author of 'In Motion The African-American Migration Experience', published 2005 under ISBN 9780792273851 and ISBN 0792273850.