"Our deepest memories live at the shoreline...where the Atlantic ocean meets solid ground"

The first “Great Migration,” which occurred from 1916–1930, saw the African-American population of Philadelphia increase from 62,000 in 1900 to 220,000 in 1930, as a direct result of the Pennsylvania Railroad offering free transportation to southern blacks willing to work in northern cities, after facing labor shortages from the First World War. The decision of Northern industries to employ African-American workers set off a great exodus, as blacks fled in search of better economic opportunities.

The Great Migration Project details these stories through commissioned short films, artifacts, photography and digital art installations, created by nationally and internationally-recognized artists, including acclaimed director and filmmaker, Julie Dash, who is credited with being the first African American woman to have a full-length general theatrical release in the United States.

Dash and other notable filmmakers collaborated with local communities and organizations whose histories trace back to the period. The films reveal the experiences of participants and descendants of migrants, and draws connections between the agricultural world they left behind and the new industrial world they helped to create.
-By Haywood Brewster • Wed, Aug 03, 2016 • Philadelphia Free Press

“Standing at the Scratch Line” recounts the impact of migrants on the African Methodist Episcopal church. Philadelphia’s Mother Bethel AME, the nation’s oldest African-American church, served as a local community partner, as well as Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, SC, the site of the 2015 mass shooting.