New docuseries highlights impact of Great Migration in Detroit's history
(CBS DETROIT) — Detroit has one of the largest African American populations. A new documentary will explore the Great Migration, which played a key role in the city's history.
CBS News Detroit spoke with Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., host of "Great Migrations: A People on the Move."
"If it were the center gravity for the great migration, the movement of our ancestors from the south to the north, it was right here in Detroit, and people came into Detroit from this amazing train station, Michigan Central," Gates said.
The four-part docuseries, which will debut later this month on PBS, explores how African Americans moved throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
The series will show how the migration helped move America forward.
"We recreated American popular culture the classic blues, jazz, and black gospel music. Gospel existed before but black gospel music was born in the north as a result of the great migration," Gates said.
The new program debuted at a launch event at Michigan Central. According to experts, the Ford Motor Company played a key role in the great migration north, especially in 1914.
"Henry Ford shocked everyone by offering $5 a day. The $5 a day was for Black and White workers. And the Ford Motor Company was pretty good in terms of race relations," Gates said.
The docuseries will explore pressures, both political and economic, that sparked the migration.
According to Gates, Detroit's Black population rose by thousands in the early 1900s due to the Great Migration.
"Detroit's black population in 20 years increased 1900%."
