The Great Migration and the power of a single decision | Isabel Wilkerson

Yo was good to all the students that got this video assigned, (I’m one of them, hi)

Isabel is one of the most important and prolife writer today. Her work is profoundly important to change the deeply inbeded cast system in America. A system that was purposely design to oppress and destroy souls😢..She is clear and concise in helping us understand how we've gotten so far in this great divide. Her books should be on every home shelf and every library. Thank you so much for presenting this horriffic system so clearly and eloquently. ❤

I am here because of the Great Migration. My father's grandparents, his mother, his aunts and uncles, all over the years, left behind a little town in Arkansas in hopes of a better life in Chicago! I am so proud to call myself a product of this wonderful time in history.

Who's here for an assignment?

The story of a library book is telling about how caste perpetuates itself. The upper castes corner resources that lower castes cannot access to remedy their situation. Resources like education, nutrition and sanitation. Thank you for your work.

Your book, Caste needs to be a must read in schools. Thank you.

My mother (the oldest of 9) was born Black and in the south in 19 and 39. In 1959, she 'migrated' to Southern California, and by 1961 she had saved enough to send for her mother, father, and 8 brothers and sisters.

This is a very important part of American history. Thanks for sharing!

I am from China and I never know this. Thank you for the history class of USA.

I came here for a school assignment but I am glad I got to watch it

I read Caste and then had to read Warmth of Other Suns. Wilkerson’s research and writing style makes this history so impactful. I’m so glad I was able to learn this neglected part of our history.

This is the perhaps the most profound speech about African Americans in our day and it is long overdue. I say this with a heavy heart because it should also be to every person of every nationality in every part of the world. There is no being who has ever lived or who will be born or come into existence who has not been both directly and/or indirectly impacted by a contribution made from a person of African descent. The presenter Mrs. Wilkerson, was not even talking about American Slavery, (which is so enormous that this country cannot comprehend even a discussion about reparations in 2019--but has been and still continues to pay for other systematic cruelties towards other ethnic groups), she was referring to the years after slavery...the cruel Jim Crow years of the South where 90% of newly 'freed' African Americans lived, worked for no money, and were robbed of their human rights to survive, earn a descent living, have choices, experience joy, be offered opportunities, and to just be left alone. Our great President Lincoln 'freed' slaves in states that he did not control. We didn't know that, but just the same, between 1916 and 1970, over 6,000,000 African Americans realized that no matter what they did or how hard they worked, the playing field of life would never be leveled for them in the South, so they made the decision to leave with no help from the government. This is a history that has been kept from the mainstream. I NEVER heard of this throughout school, including while obtaining my Bachelor's and Master's degrees. I only knew that my family is from the South. Black families don't like talking about why they left, and besides, why would someone with power want to empower the 'oppressed' with a clue that could be a game changer in their total mindset and life decisions? When did they have the 'since taking someone's life because they are caught reading is now illegal, so, instead, let's blot it out of the history books and keep them distracted' meeting? There may not be proof that there actually was such a meeting, but history has proven that the thought process produced the status quo all these years, 'and still we rise.' It has been said that the graveyard is the richest place on earth because that is where more hope, talent, dreams, inventions, discoveries, etc. die unfulfilled within the person who dies. It is written that only the Holy One robbed the grave. Amen. But I tell you, the Grimm Reaper became sick when thousands of people walked off the fields, farms, and factories and before they closed their eyes for the last time, they blessed the world with their God-given talents and gifts and a roadmap for us to do the same. Simple-minded people will try to make this a Black/White issue and turn us against each other. The presenter, Mrs. Wilkerson spoke with a monotone voice to take her emotions out of it and allow others who may not share this experience to have their own emotions about it. Everyone knows Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad would not have been successful without Whites who wanted slavery to end. Branch Rickey, a White Baseball Manager, sought out Jackie Robinson, not because Jackie was the best ball player, but because he was the one who could break the color barrier in baseball, which he did. No one may care about baseball, or slavery, or any other contribution made by the people or their children who left the fields of the South, but the next time you turn on your air, heat, alarm system, or lights, wash your clothes, wear shoes, eat food, receive any kind of medical treatment in a sterile facility, (thanks to Mrs. Henrietta Lacks (look her up), the doctors who harvested her cells (without her knowledge) and Ms. Rebecca Skloot, the White author who wrote and published her amazing story), use sugar, wear clothes, go to bed on clean sheets, celebrate your freedom in this great nation, listen to great music, watch your favorite sports teams, etc., it may go a long way to show some gratitude. We celebrate other cultures for their victories and stories of overcoming and will continue to do so, even when others don't celebrate or support ours. In the end, we won't be judged as a group but as individuals, so maybe we should spend the rest of our lives bringing our gifts to the world before we close our eyes for good . Thank you TED Ed for this platform.

Thank you, Isabel. You are helping me teach this in my US History class today.

I love this sister! She spoke at our university when "The Warmth of Other Suns" first came out -- such a down to earth, funny, and delightful spirit.

My gosh, seeing the passion in her eyes explains so much. We do not have to had been there to experience how segregation is such an unnecessary limitation. Just live with your neighbour. Not against them.

Prof Wilkerson's 'Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents' is a must-read to understand present day.

As a product of that Migration of the Mississippi streamI really enjoyed this talk. My Great Grandmother, who is still alive and was an adult during segregation spoke about moving north and starting over in all black neighborhoods. If she hadnt there's no telling if id be who i am, if she would have had the ability to teach us the things she did that lead to our successes.

She is a national treasure!

5:56 crazy how engaged everyone looks

Isabel Wilkerson book Caste should be a requirement for schools, colleges and all people in the US. Excellent book