In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience

"I have wanted for some time to produce a large-scale version of resources from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in an on-line format. And now we have done so. I am deeply grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation for giving us funding for a prototype of a digital Schomburg in the 1990s, and to the United States Congress, the New York State Delegation, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services for having seen the importance of this project to all Americans and for having answered my request for funding so generously. I wish in particular to thank the leadership and staff of the Schomburg for conceptualizing the project so perfectly and for having executed it with such brilliance."
--Paul LeClerc, President and CEO of the New York Public Library

" I am sure that my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus join me in celebrating the launch of this historic project. I would personally like to thank all of the members of the Caucus for their support of the legislation that provided funding for the African-American Migration Experience Project. This is a project that will serve all of our constituents and the nation as a whole."
-- Congressman Charles Rangel

"In addition to the extraordinary content, we are so proud of what technology has enabled us to do, and see this project as a prototype for opening our collections to the world."
--David Ferriero, Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of The Research Libraries.

" In Motion offers a new interpretation of African-American history focusing on the self-motivated activities of people of African descent to remake themselves and their worlds. The project documents the centrality of migration in the making of African-American history and culture and in the total American experience."
-- Howard Dodson, Director of The Schomburg Center and project curator.

" The wide body of information underscores and explains the extraordinary diversity of the 35 million African Americans living in the US today. This is an invitation to every person of African descent in the US to revisit their and their families' migration histories to determine their roles in the making of African-American and American history."
-- Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf project content manager, and curator of the exhibition

" National Geographic Books is honored to be working with the renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture as part of the In Motion project. Drawing from the tremendous resources of the Center, we have produced In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience, the companion book to the extraordinary website and exhibit of the same name. National Geographic Books is proud of its partnership with the Schomburg Center and delighted to be involved in highlighting this important aspect of American history and culture."
--Nina Hoffman, President of National Geographic Books and Education Publishing