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

Isabel Wilkerson at TEDWomen 2017
The Great Migration and the power of a single decision  (transcript)
Summary
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million African-Americans.
They left South to cities in the North and West between World War 1 and 1970s to flee the Jim Crow.

The Jim Crow is the law to enforce racial segregation in the Southern United States. It mandated racial segregation in all public facilities.
It continued to be enforced until 1965, however, there was no freedom there after that. And then the Great Migration happened.

However, the speaker tells us that they seemed to take it willingly. She explains that the first time they had a chance to choose for themselves what they would do with their innate talents.

I think that the action is important, even if the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
It's not that they abandoned their ancestors and escaped but they freed themselves to seek freedom that must be believed the power of a single decision.

Words in this story
flee /verb/ escape, run away
freed /verb/ release, set free
segregation /noun/ isolation
mandate /verb/ give (someone) authority to act in a certain way.  instruct, order, direct
emancipation /noun/ release, liberation, the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions; liberation.
proclamation /noun/ statement, a public or official announcement, especially one dealing with a matter of great importance.