Executive Chair Bill Ford
Executive Chair Bill Ford spoke of the role Michigan Central Station played in the Great Migration as a major transportation hub for African Americans traveling to Detroit for jobs in the auto industry, and the role it plays now as a hub for mobility innovation.
“I didn’t want Detroit to cede our future to some other part of the country like Silicon Valley,” he said. “It was really important that Michigan Central Station, the building next door (Newlab), and this whole district become a place of opportunity for a whole new generation of Detroiters, just as it was during the Great Migration.”
The four-part docuseries, sponsored by Ford, begins airing on PBS Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 9 p.m. ET. On Thursday night, Emmy award-winner Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., docuseries executive producer, host, and writer, discussed the series and the reason why it was important to share the story of the Great Migration.
“This series allows us to step back and consider how migration by and large has shaped and reshaped our collective American story geographically, culturally, socially, politically, and economically. And how it has in turn shaped the lives of individuals, families, entire communities and the very face of cities across the United States,” he said.
