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Join WTTW, the Chicago Defender Charities and The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center for this in-person preview and discussion of Great Migrations: A People on the Move, a new film directed by Julia Marchesi and Nailah Ife Sims. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the executive producer, host and writer of the series.

Migration is a deeply profound aspect of the modern African American experience – a journey symbolizing freedom to a people long denied movement. Originally, theirs was a forced migration from Africa to America, followed by centuries of enslavement that kept them locked in place. In being denied movement, they were denied their humanity. This four-part, four-hour series tell the story of African American movement over the 20th and 21st centuries, exploring how it has shaped this nation.

Great Migrations: A People on the Move premieres on all WTTW platforms on four consecutive Tuesdays beginning January 28, 2025 at 8:00 pm.

Immediately following the screening, Brandis Friedman, the Alexandra and John Nichols Chief Correspondent and Anchor for Chicago Tonight and Black Voices, will moderate a conversation with Dr. Myiti Sengstacke Rice, President and CEO of the Chicago Defender Charities; Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago; and Deborah Douglas, Senior Lecturer and Director of Midwest Solutions Journalism Hub at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. In addition, the panel will also discuss the reverse migration of Black Americans to the South.

Corporate support for GREAT MIGRATIONS: A PEOPLE ON THE MOVE is provided by Bank of America, Ford Motor Company and Johnson & Johnson. Major support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Support is also provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional support was provided by the Inkwell Society together with many of its members. For a complete list of funders, please contact McGee Media.

Major support for the WTTW Presentation of Great Migrations: A People On The Move is provided by Walter and Shirley Massey; and Antonio and Kimberly Monk. (As of December 23, 2024)