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

翻译人员: Hong Li 校对人员: Maggie Wang

Imagine with me this scene.

想象一下这个场景。

It's a scene that played out in nearly all of our families.

几乎每个家庭都曾上演。

It's a scene in which a young person,

这场景关于一位年轻人，

somewhere in our family tree,

来自族谱里某个支系，

somewhere in our lineage

某一个远房宗亲，

had a heartbreaking decision to make.

要做出一个痛心的决定。

It was a decision to leave all that they had known.

决定要离开他们所熟知的一切。

And all of the people that they had loved

离开所有他们所爱的人，

and to set out for a place far, far away

出发前往远方，

that they had never seen

那是一个完全陌生的地方，

in hopes that life might be better.

他们希望能在那里过上更好的生活。

Migration is usually a young person's endeavor.

移民一般发生在年轻人身上。

It's the kind of thing that you do when you're on the cusp of life.

往往是生活里一个重要转折点。

And so, there is, in all of our families,

在我们所有人的家庭中，

this young person somewhere in our background.

总会有这么一个年轻人存在。

That person is standing at a dock,

他或许正站在码头，

about to board a ship

准备登船，

that will cross the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean.

他将横穿大西洋或者太平洋。

That person is loading up a truck

他或许在往卡车上装行李，

that will cross the Rio Grande.

准备穿过格兰德河。

Or that person is standing

又或者，

at a railroad platform

他站在火车月台上，

about to board a train that will cross rivers and mountains

准备乘火车穿过河流和山脉，

out of the Jim Crow South

逃离种族隔离的南方，

to what they hope will be freedom in the North.

去到北方，希望能得到自由。

And there, with this young person

而跟这位年轻人一起，

as they are about to board that ship,

送他们登船，

that boat,

或者上小艇，

that truck, that train,

或者上卡车，火车的，

are the people who raised them.

正是养育了他们的人。

Their mother, their father,

他们的母亲、父亲、

their aunt, their uncle, their grandparents,

阿姨、叔叔、爷爷和奶奶，

whoever it might have been who had gotten them to this point.

那些一路陪伴他成长至今的人。

Those older people

这些上了年纪的人，

were not going to be able to make the crossing with them.

已经无法跟他们一起完成这趟旅程。

And as they looked into the eyes of the people who had raised them,

年轻人凝视着亲人的双眼，

there was no guarantee

他们都无法确认，

that they would ever see them alive again.

有生之年还能否再见。

Remember, there was no Skype,

别忘了，当时没有 Skype，

no e-mail, no cell phones

没有电子邮件，没有手机，

not even reliable long-distance telephone service.

甚至没有稳定的长途电话服务。

And even if there had been,

即便是有这些，

many of the people that they were leaving did not even have telephones.

留在家乡的亲人很多都没有电话。

This was going to be a complete break

这是一次彻底的分离，

from all that they knew

远离熟悉的一切，

and all of the people that they loved.

远离所爱的人。

And the very next time

很可能下一次

that they might hear anything about the people who had raised them

他再听到家人的消息，

might be a telegram saying, "Your father has passed away."

也许就是一封电报， “你的父亲已经去世。”

Or, "Your mother is very, very ill.

或者，“你的母亲病重，

You must return home quickly if you are to see her alive again."

请尽快赶回来见她最后一面。”

That is the magnitude of the sacrifice

这是一种巨大的牺牲，

that had to have happened in nearly all of our families

几乎发生在我们的每一个家庭，

just for us to be here.

仅仅为了让我们今天能站在这里。

A single decision that changed the course of families

一个简单的决定， 改变了家庭的轨迹，

and lineages and countries and history

甚至改变了家族、 国家和历史的轨迹，

to the current day.

一路走到今天。

One of these migration streams

其中有一股移民潮，

stands out in ways that we may not realize.

它很有特点， 可能我们还没有意识到。

It was called the Great Migration.

它被称作大移民。

It was the outpouring of six million African Americans

有 600 万非裔美国人，

from the Jim Crow South

从种族隔离的南部，

to the cities of the North and West,

涌入北部和西部的城市，

from the time of World War I until the 1970s.

从第一次世界大战 持续到70年代。

It stands out because this was the first time in American history

之所以说它突出， 是因为这是美国历史上第一次，

that American citizens had to flee the land of their birth

美国公民逃离自己的出生地，

just to be recognized as the citizens that they had always been.

仅仅为了使自己与生俱来的 公民身份得到承认。

No other group of Americans

而其他族裔的美国人

has had to act like immigrants

完全不需要这么做，

in order to be recognized as citizens.

来使自己的公民身份得到承认。

So this great migration was not a move.

因此这次大移民 并不是搬个家那么简单。

It was actually a seeking of political asylum

这实际上是一次 寻求政治避难的过程，

within the borders of one's own country.

只不过发生在自己国家内部。

They were defecting a caste system known as Jim Crow.

他们从俗称吉姆·克劳的 种族制度中逃离，

It was an artificial hierarchy

这是一种人为划分的等级制度，

in which everything that you could and could not do

你能做的、不能做的一切，

was based upon what you looked like.

都由你的外表来决定。

This caste system was so arcane that it was actually against the law

这个制度是如此荒谬， 以致于出现下面这种情况：

for a black person and a white person

在伯明翰，如果一个黑人 和一个白人，

to merely play checkers together in Birmingham.

在一起下西洋棋是违法的。

You could go to jail

你真的会被投进监狱，

if you were caught playing checkers with a person of a different race.

如果你被发现跟不同种族的人 一起下西洋棋。

Someone must have seen a black person and a white person

肯定有人见过一个黑人和一个白人，

playing checkers with someone in some town square.

在某个小镇的广场上下西洋棋。

And maybe the wrong person was winning

也许那个黑人赢了，

or they were having too good of a time,

或者他们玩得太开心了，

but whatever it was that this person saw,

但不管那个人看到了什么，

with this black person and this white person playing checkers,

只要当黑人和白人在一起下棋，

they felt the entire foundation of Southern civilization was in peril.

他们就会觉得整个南方的文明 都处于危险的境地。

And decided that it was worth taking the time

于是他们决定要花些时间，

to write this down as a law.

把这个写进法律里。

This caste system was so arcane

这个种族制度是如此荒谬，

that in courtrooms throughout the South there was actually a black Bible

以至于在整个南部的法庭上 都会有一本黑色的圣经，

and an altogether separate white Bible

跟一本白色的圣经完全区分开，

to swear to tell the truth on in court.

用来宣誓陈述事实。

The very word of God was segregated

在南方的种族隔离制度下，

in the caste system of the Jim Crow South.

连上帝的话都被隔离了。

The same sacred object

同样神圣的东西，

could not be touched by hands of different races.

却不能被不同种族的人触碰。

This artificial hierarchy,

这种人为的等级制度，

because it goes against human desires to be free,

正因为它违背了人类对自由的渴望，

required a tremendous amount of violence to maintain.

所以需要大量的暴力行为来维系。

Such that every four days, somewhere in the American South,

在美国南部某些地区， 在几十年的时间内，

every four days an African American was lynched

每 4 天就有一名 非裔美国人被私刑处死，

for some perceived breach of protocol in this caste system

因为被发现违反了 种族制度的某些条款，

in the decades leading up to the start of the Great Migration.

这直接导致了大移民的开始。

This caste system had been put in place for many, many reasons.

这一种族制度产生的原因有很多，

But one of them was to maintain the economic order of the South,

其中一个是要维持南方的经济秩序，

which required not just a supply of cheap labor

不仅需要廉价的劳动力供应，

but an oversupply of cheap labor to work at the will of the land.

而且需要超量的廉价劳动力 来满足土地的需求。

This Great Migration began when the North had a labor problem.

大移民潮开始的时候， 正是北方出现了劳动力问题。

The North had a labor problem

北方的劳动力问题

because it had been relying on cheap labor from Europe --

是因为它依赖于欧洲的廉价劳动力，

immigrants from Europe --

来自欧洲的移民，

to work the factories and the foundries and the steel mills.

在工厂、铸造车间和钢厂工作。

But during World War I,

但是在一战期间，

migration from Europe came to a virtual halt.

来自欧洲的移民事实上停止了。

And so the North had a labor problem.

北方出现了劳动力问题。

And so the North decided to go and find the cheapest labor in the land

他们要寻找最廉价的劳动力，

which meant African Americans in the South,

也就是南方的非裔美国人，

many of whom were not even being paid for their hard work.

他们中的很多人甚至都拿不到薪水。

Many of them were working

他们辛勤劳作，

for the right to live on the land that they were farming.

只是为了能够 在自己耕种的土地上生活。

They were sharecroppers and not even being paid.

他们都是佃农，没有报酬。

So they were ripe for recruitment.

因此适合被招募。

But it turned out

但结果是，

that the South did not take kindly to this poaching of its cheap labor.

南方很不满这种 觊觎他们廉价劳动力的行为。

The South actually did everything it could to keep the people from leaving.

他们用尽一切手段来阻止黑人们离开。

They would arrest people from the railroad platforms.

他们会在铁路月台上进行抓捕。

Remember, putatively free American citizens.

别忘了，这些都是 名义上自由的美国公民。

They would arrest them from their train seats.

他们有可能从火车座位上被带走。

And when there were too many people to arrest,

如果要逮捕的人太多，

they would wave the train on through

他们会直接把火车开回去，

so that people who had been hoping

让那些满怀希望，

and saving

省吃俭用，

and praying for the chance to get to freedom

祈祷能得到自由的人们，

had to figure out: How now will we get out?

不得不想清楚： 现在该怎么逃出去？

And as they made their way out of the South,

当他们顺利逃离南方，

away from Jim Crow,

逃离种族隔离地区，

they followed three beautifully predictable streams

他们会沿着 3 条固定路线前进，

as is the case in any migration throughout human history.

跟历史上的移民潮一样。

In this particular case, there were three streams.

具体来说，有 3 条路线。

One was the migration along the East Coast

一条是沿着东海岸，

from Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia

从佛罗里达、乔治亚、 南北卡罗莱纳和维吉尼亚

to Washington DC, to Philadelphia,

到华盛顿、费城

New Jersey, New York and on up the East coast.

新泽西、纽约然后一路沿东海岸北上。

There was the Midwest stream,

还有一条中西部的路线，

which carried people from Mississippi, Alabama,

是从密西西比、阿拉巴马、

Tennessee and Arkansas

田纳西和阿肯色，

to Chicago, to Detroit, to Cleveland and the entire Midwest.

到芝加哥、底特律、 克里夫兰和整个中西部地区。

And then there was the West Coast stream,

最后是西海岸路线，

which carried people from Louisiana and Texas

从路易斯安那和得克萨斯

out to California.

到加利福尼亚。

And when they really wanted to get away,

如果想逃得更远一点，

they went to Seattle.

他们就会去西雅图。

And when they really, really wanted to get away,

如果还要更更更远，

they went to Alaska,

就会去阿拉斯加，

the farthest possible point within the borders of the United States

那儿应该是美国境内，

from Jim Crow South.

离种族隔离区最远的地方。

Before the Great Migration began,

在大移民开始前，

90 percent of all African Americans were living in the South.

90%的非裔美国人生活在南方。

Nearly held captive in the South.

准确的说应该是被关在南方。

But by the time this Great Migration was over,

但到大移民结束的时候，

nearly half were living all over the rest of the country.

差不多有一半的人分布在全国各地。

So this ended up being nearly a complete redistribution

这基本上是一次

of part of an entire people.

对人口的再分配。

This Great Migration was the first time in American history

这场大移民，是美国历史上第一次，

that the lowest caste people

来自最底层的人民

signaled that they had options and were willing to take them.

有了选择的机会， 他们也希望抓住机会。

That had not happened in the three centuries

3 个世纪前，当非裔美国人 踏上这片土地以来，

in which African Americans had been on that soil at that time.

这样的事还从未发生过。

It had not happened in 12 generations of enslavement

在经过了 1 个世纪的种族隔离 和 12 代奴隶制，

that preceded nearly a century of Jim Crow.

这样的事才第一次发生。

How many "greats"

你要在祖父前面

do you have to add to the word "grandparent"

加上多少个“曾”，

to begin to imagine how long enslavement lasted in the United States?

才能想象出奴隶制 在美国存在了多长时间？

Secondly, this Great Migration was the first time in American history

其次，大移民是在美国历史上第一次

that the lowest caste people

来自最底层的人民

actually had a chance to choose for themselves

有机会为自己做选择，

what they would do with their God-given talents

选择如何运用上帝赐予的天赋，

and where they would pursue them.

以及在哪里能实现它。

Think about those cotton fields

想象那些棉花地、

and those rice plantations

稻田、

and those tobacco fields

烟草地、

and those sugar plantations.

甘蔗园。

On those sugar plantations,

在甘蔗园里、

and on those tobacco fields,

烟草地里、

and on those rice plantations,

稻田里、

and on those cotton fields

棉花地里，

were opera singers,

有歌剧演员、

jazz musicians,

爵士乐手、

playwrights,

剧作家、

novelists,

小说家、

surgeons,

外科医生、

attorneys,

律师、

accountants,

会计、

professors,

教授、

journalists.

记者。

And how do we know that?

我们是怎么知道的呢？

We know that because that is what they and their children

我们知道，是因为这是他们， 他们的孩子，

and now their grandchildren and even great-grandchildren

他们的孙子，甚至是重孙，

have often chosen to become

会选择的职业，

once they had the chance to choose for themselves

只要他们有机会来为自己选择，

what they would do with their God-given talents.

来运用上帝赐予的天赋。

Without the Great Migration,

没有大移民，

there might not have been a Toni Morrison as we now know her to be.

也许今天就没有我们 熟悉的托妮·莫里森。

Her parents were from Alabama and from Georgia.

她的父母分别来自 阿拉巴马和乔治亚。

They migrated to Ohio,

移民到了俄亥俄，

where their daughter would get to do something

在那里，他们的女儿才能做一些

that we all take for granted at this point,

在今天看来是理所应当的事，

but which was against the law and against protocol for African Americans

但是，对于非裔美国人来说，

at the time that she would have been growing up in the South,

如果她在父母曾生活的南方长大，

had they stayed.

就是违法和违规了。

And that is just to walk into a library

只是走进图书馆，

and take out a library book.

拿走一本图书，也是违法的。

Merely by making the single decision to leave,

仅仅是做了离开的决定，

her parents assured that their daughter would get access to books.

她的父母就能保证女儿能读到书。

And if you're going to become a Nobel laureate,

如果你想成为一名诺贝尔获奖者，

it helps to get a book now and then.

能随时借到书，会大有帮助。

You know, it helps.

大家都懂，肯定会有帮助的。

Music as we know it was reshaped by the Great Migration.

大移民还重塑了我们的音乐。

As they came North, they brought with them,

他们移民到北方， 也将音乐带了过去，

on their hearts and in their memories,

音乐存在他们的心里和记忆中，

the music that had sustained the ancestors --

支撑着他们的祖先，

the blues music, the spirituals and the gospel music

蓝调，灵歌和福音音乐，

that had sustained them through the generations.

支撑了他们一代又一代人。

And they converted this music into whole new genres of music.

他们将这些音乐 转变成了全新的形式。

And got the chance to record this music,

并有机会把这些新创的音乐

this new music that they were creating,

录制下来，

and to spread it throughout the world.

传播到全世界。

Without the Great Migration, "Motown" would not have existed.

如果没有大移民， 摩城唱片将不会存在。

The founder, Berry Gordy, his parents were from Georgia.

创始人贝利·高迪的父母 来自乔治亚州。

They migrated to Detroit.

他们移居到了底特律。

And when he got to be a grown man, he decided he wanted to go into music.

他长大之后，决定要从事音乐。

But he didn't have the wherewithal to go all over the country

但他资金不够，没法走遍全国，

looking for the best talent,

去寻找那些有才华的人，

and it turned out he didn't have to.

其实他并不需要走远。

It turned out that there he was,

他所在之处，

surrounded by children of the Great Migration

就有许多大移民的后代，

whose parents had brought this music up with them during the journey.

他们的父辈带着音乐上路。

And among those children were these three girls,

在这些孩子中有3位姑娘，

there was Mary Wilson,

分别是玛丽·威尔森，

Florence Ballard

弗洛伦斯·巴拉德

and there was a third one:

还有第 3 个，

Diana Ross.

黛安娜·罗斯。

We might not know Diana Ross' name had there been no Great Migration.

如果不是大移民的话， 我们可能不会知道黛安娜·罗斯。

Because like a lot of Americans and a lot of human beings in general,

因为就像许多美国人 和许多普通人一样，

she might not have existed because her parents might not have met.

她可能都不会出生， 因为她的父母可能都无法相遇。

Her mother was from Alabama,

她母亲来自阿拉巴马，

father from West Virginia,

父亲来自西维吉尼亚，

they migrated to Detroit, different years,

他们先后移民到底特律，

met, married, had her and her siblings,

相遇、结婚，有了黛安娜和她的姐妹，

and thus a legend was born.

一代传奇就这样诞生了。

Jazz was a creation of the Great Migration.

爵士乐是大移民的产物。

And one of the greatest gifts of the Great Migration.

是大移民带来的最好的礼物之一。

Starting with Louis Armstrong, who was born in Louisiana

最开始是路易斯·阿姆斯特朗， 出生于路易斯安那，

and migrated on the Illinois Central Railroad to Chicago,

沿着伊利诺伊州中部铁路 移民到了芝加哥，

where he got the chance to build on the talent

在那里他有机会锻炼才华，

that was within him all along.

那些与生俱来的才华。

Miles Davis.

迈尔士·戴维斯。

His parents were from Arkansas.

他的父母来自阿肯色州。

They migrated to southern Illinois,

他们移民到伊利诺伊州南部，

where he would get the chance to build on the talents

在那里他有机会锻炼才华，

that were within him all along

那些与生俱来的才华，

but which could have gone fallow in the cotton country of Arkansas.

原本这些才华可能会被埋没在 阿肯色州的棉花地里。

John Coltrane.

约翰·柯川。

He migrated at the age of 16

他是在 16 岁的时候，

from North Carolina to Philadelphia,

从北卡罗来纳州移民到了费城，

where, upon arrival in Philadelphia, he got his first alto sax.

在到达费城的时候， 他得到了第一支中音萨克斯。

And there are lovers of jazz who cannot imagine a world

爵士乐爱好者们简直无法想象

without John Coltrane having gotten a hold of a saxophone.

如果约翰·柯川手里没有萨克斯风， 这世界将会怎样。

Thelonious Monk.

塞隆尼斯·孟克。

Michael Jackson.

迈克尔·杰克逊。

Jesse Owens.

杰西·欧文斯。

Prince.

王子。

August Wilson.

奥古斯特·威尔逊。

Richard Wright.

理查德·赖特。

Ralph Ellison.

拉尔夫·艾里森。

Michelle Obama.

米歇尔·奥巴马。

These are all a few of the millions of people

这些只是数百万 移民后代中的一小部分，

who were products of the single decision to migrate.

他们都是移民这个决定的产物。

The people of the Great Migration

大移民的人

met with tremendous resistance in the North.

在北方遇到了极大的抵制。

And they were not able to defeat all social injustice.

他们没法纠正所有的社会不公正。

But one person

但一个人

added to another person,

加上第二个人，

added to another person,

加上第三个人，

multiplied by millions,

加上数百万人，

were able to become the advance guard of the civil rights movement.

就能成为民权运动的巨大先锋力量。

One person added to another person,

一个人加上第二个人，

added to another person,

加上第三个人，

multiplied by millions,

加上数百万人，

acting on a single decision,

因为一个决定而行动起来，

were able to change the region that they had been forced to flee.

就可以改变他们原本要逃离的地方。

They had more power in leaving

离开的力量

than by staying.

比留下更加强大。

By their actions,

通过他们的行动，

these people who had absolutely nothing

这些一无所有的人

were able to do what a president of the United States,

甚至完成了美国总统，

Abraham Lincoln, was not able to do.

亚布拉罕·林肯都无法完成的事情。

These people, by their actions,

这些人，通过他们的行动，

were able to do

完成了

what the Emancipation Proclamation could not do.

《解放奴隶宣言》 也无法完成的事情。

These people, by their actions,

这些人，通过他们的行动，

were able to do what the powers that be,

完成了当时的政府，

North and South,

北方和南方，

could not or would not do.

无法完成也不愿完成的事。

They freed themselves.

他们解放了自己。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）