TED Talks Daily
The Great Migration and the power of a single decision | Isabel Wilkerson artwork

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

TED Talks Daily
18:32
Play episode

Show notes

Sometimes, a single decision can change the course of history. Join journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson as she tells the story of the Great Migration, the outpouring of six million African Americans from the Jim Crow South to cities in the North and West between World War I and the 1970s. This was the first time in American history that the lowest caste people signaled they had options and were willing to take them -- and the first time they had a chance to choose for themselves what they would do with their innate talents, Wilkerson explains. "These people, by their actions, were able to do what the powers that be, North and South, could not or would not do," she says. "They freed themselves." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from this show

More
  1. The secret to mastering life's biggest transitions | Bruce Feiler

    How do you navigate life's growing number of transitions with meaning, purpose and skill? Writer Bruce Feiler offers a powerful way to handle uncertain, painful and confusing times…

    22:21
  2. How tech will (and won't) replace your doctor | Zack Abbott and Dhruv Khullar

    There's more health advice available than ever before — and no easy way to tell what’s worth your time. From biotech breakthroughs to smarter cancer screening, physician Dhruv Khul…

    29:00
  3. How to make AI companies pay your energy bill | Ari Matusiak

    Climate expert Ari Matusiak spends his days working to rewire America's energy system, and he has an idea: instead of tech companies building new power plants for their AI data cen…

    15:10
  4. How to use tech to outsmart dictators | Leopoldo López

    In seven years as a political prisoner in Venezuela, activist Leopoldo López kept asking one question: Who holds the keys to freedom? Now the leader of an alliance of dissidents an…

    21:42
  5. Campaigns spend millions to influence voters. This works better | Katie Paris

    Katie Paris quit her career in Washington, DC, to figure out how to make politics feel less like strangers shouting at each other and more like friends looking out for each other.…

    13:22
  6. The wiggly wonder of music | Jacob Collier

    Grammy-winning musician Jacob Collier has a name for the feeling that moves through a great piece of music: the wiggle. Watch him break down the idea into its three parts — melody,…

    12:39
Now Playing
The Great Migration and the power of a single decision | Isabel Wilkerson — TED Talks Daily | Podcast | Josplay Music