听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:一个决定可以改变历史：大移民的故事，希望你会喜欢！

【演讲者及介绍】Isabel Wilkerson

Isabel Wilkerson是《其他太阳的温暖》(The Warmth of Other Suns)一书的作者，该书讲述了大迁移的故事。她是一位获得普利策奖的记者，她利用叙事历史揭示了我们共有的人性。

【演讲主题】大移民和单个决定的力量

The great migration and the power of a single decision

【中英文字幕】

翻译者Alvin Lee 校对者Maggie Wang

Imagine with me this scene. It's a scene that played out in nearly all of our families. It's a scene in which a young person, somewhere in our family tree, somewhere in our lineage had a heartbreaking decision to make. It was a decision to leave all that they had known. And all of the people that they had loved and to set out for a place far, far away that they had never seen in hopes that life might be better.

想象一下这个场景。 几乎每个家庭都曾上演。 这场景关于一位年轻人， 来自族谱里某个支系， 某一个远房宗亲， 要做出一个痛心的决定。 决定要离开他们所熟知的一切。 离开所有他们所爱的人， 出发前往远方， 那是一个完全陌生的地方， 他们希望能在那里过上更好的生活。

Migration is usually a young person's endeavor. It's the kind of thing that you do when you're on the cusp of life. And so, there is, in all of our families, this young person somewhere in our background. That person is standing at a dock, about to board a ship that will cross the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean. That person is loading up a truck that will cross the Rio Grande. Or that person is standing at a railroad platform about to board a train that will cross rivers and mountains out of the Jim Crow South to what they hope will be freedom in the North.

移民一般发生在年轻人身上。 往往是生活里一个重要转折点。 在我们所有人的家庭中， 总会有这么一个年轻人存在。 他或许正站在码头， 准备登船， 他将横穿大西洋或者太平洋。 他或许在往卡车上装行李， 准备穿过格兰德河。 又或者， 他站在火车月台上， 准备乘火车穿过河流和山脉， 逃离种族隔离的南方， 去到北方，希望能得到自由。

And there, with this young person as they are about to board that ship, that boat, that truck, that train, are the people who raised them. Their mother, their father, their aunt, their uncle, their grandparents, whoever it might have been who had gotten them to this point. Those older people were not going to be able to make the crossing with them. And as they looked into the eyes of the people who had raised them, there was no guarantee that they would ever see them alive again.

而跟这位年轻人一起， 送他们登船， 或者上小艇， 或者上卡车，火车的， 正是养育了他们的人。 他们的母亲、父亲、 阿姨、叔叔、爷爷和奶奶， 那些一路陪伴他成长至今的人。 这些上了年纪的人， 已经无法跟他们一起完成这趟旅程。 年轻人凝视着亲人的双眼， 他们都无法确认， 有生之年还能否再见。

Remember, there was no Skype, no e-mail, no cell phones not even reliable long-distance telephone service. And even if there had been, many of the people that they were leaving did not even have telephones. This was going to be a complete break from all that they knew and all of the people that they loved. And the very next time that they might hear anything about the people who had raised them might be a telegram saying, "Your father has passed away." Or, "Your mother is very, very ill. You must return home quickly if you are to see her alive again."

别忘了，当时没有 Skype， 没有电子邮件，没有手机， 甚至没有稳定的长途电话服务。 即便是有这些， 留在家乡的亲人很多都没有电话。 这是一次彻底的分离， 远离熟悉的一切， 远离所爱的人。 很可能下一次 他再听到家人的消息， 也许就是一封电报， “你的父亲已经去世。” 或者，“你的母亲病重， 请尽快赶回来见她最后一面。”

That is the magnitude of the sacrifice that had to have happened in nearly all of our families just for us to be here. A single decision that changed the course of families and lineages and countries and history to the current day.

这是一种巨大的牺牲， 几乎发生在我们的每一个家庭， 仅仅为了让我们今天能站在这里。 一个简单的决定， 改变了家庭的轨迹， 甚至改变了家族、 国家和历史的轨迹， 一路走到今天。

One of these migration streams stands out in ways that we may not realize. It was called the Great Migration. It was the outpouring of six million African Americans from the Jim Crow South to the cities of the North and West, from the time of World War I until the 1970s. It stands out because this was the first time in American history that American citizens had to flee the land of their birth just to be recognized as the citizens that they had always been. No other group of Americans has had to act like immigrants in order to be recognized as citizens.

其中有一股移民潮， 它很有特点， 可能我们还没有意识到。 它被称作大移民。 有 600 万非裔美国人， 从种族隔离的南部， 涌入北部和西部的城市， 从第一次世界大战 持续到70年代。 之所以说它突出， 是因为这是美国历史上第一次， 美国公民逃离自己的出生地， 仅仅为了使自己与生俱来的 公民身份得到承认。 而其他族裔的美国人 完全不需要这么做， 来使自己的公民身份得到承认。

So this great migration was not a move. It was actually a seeking of political asylum within the borders of one's own country. They were defecting a caste system known as Jim Crow. It was an artificial hierarchy in which everything that you could and could not do was based upon what you looked like. This caste system was so arcane that it was actually against the law for a black person and a white person to merely play checkers together in Birmingham. You could go to jail if you were caught playing checkers with a person of a different race. Someone must have seen a black person and a white person playing checkers with someone in some town square. And maybe the wrong person was winning or they were having too good of a time, but whatever it was that this person saw, with this black person and this white person playing checkers, they felt the entire foundation of Southern civilization was in peril. And decided that it was worth taking the time to write this down as a law.

因此这次大移民 并不是搬个家那么简单。 这实际上是一次 寻求政治避难的过程， 只不过发生在自己国家内部。 他们从俗称吉姆·克劳的 种族制度中逃离， 这是一种人为划分的等级制度， 你能做的、不能做的一切， 都由你的外表来决定。 这个制度是如此荒谬， 以致于出现下面这种情况： 在伯明翰，如果一个黑人 和一个白人， 在一起下西洋棋是违法的。 你真的会被投进监狱， 如果你被发现跟不同种族的人 一起下西洋棋。 肯定有人见过一个黑人和一个白人， 在某个小镇的广场上下西洋棋。 也许那个黑人赢了， 或者他们玩得太开心了， 但不管那个人看到了什么， 只要当黑人和白人在一起下棋， 他们就会觉得整个南方的文明 都处于危险的境地。 于是他们决定要花些时间， 把这个写进法律里。

This caste system was so arcane that in courtrooms throughout the South there was actually a black Bible and an altogether separate white Bible to swear to tell the truth on in court. The very word of God was segregated in the caste system of the Jim Crow South. The same sacred object could not be touched by hands of different races.

这个种族制度是如此荒谬， 以至于在整个南部的法庭上 都会有一本黑色的圣经， 跟一本白色的圣经完全区分开， 用来宣誓陈述事实。 在南方的种族隔离制度下， 连上帝的话都被隔离了。 同样神圣的东西， 却不能被不同种族的人触碰。

This artificial hierarchy, because it goes against human desires to be free, required a tremendous amount of violence to maintain. Such that every four days, somewhere in the American South, every four days an African American was lynched for some perceived breach of protocol in this caste system in the decades leading up to the start of the Great Migration. This caste system had been put in place for many, many reasons. But one of them was to maintain the economic order of the South, which required not just a supply of cheap labor but an oversupply of cheap labor to work at the will of the land.

这种人为的等级制度， 正因为它违背了人类对自由的渴望， 所以需要大量的暴力行为来维系。 在美国南部某些地区， 在几十年的时间内， 每 4 天就有一名 非裔美国人被私刑处死， 因为被发现违反了 种族制度的某些条款， 这直接导致了大移民的开始。 这一种族制度产生的原因有很多， 其中一个是要维持南方的经济秩序， 不仅需要廉价的劳动力供应， 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. The North had a labor problem because it had been relying on cheap labor from Europe -- immigrants from Europe -- to work the factories and the foundries and the steel mills. But during World War I, migration from Europe came to a virtual halt. And so the North had a labor problem. And so the North decided to go and find the cheapest labor in the land which meant African Americans in the South, many of whom were not even being paid for their hard work. Many of them were working for the right to live on the land that they were farming. They were sharecroppers and not even being paid. So they were ripe for recruitment.

大移民潮开始的时候， 正是北方出现了劳动力问题。 北方的劳动力问题 是因为它依赖于欧洲的廉价劳动力， 来自欧洲的移民， 在工厂、铸造车间和钢厂工作。 但是在一战期间， 来自欧洲的移民事实上停止了。 北方出现了劳动力问题。 他们要寻找最廉价的劳动力， 也就是南方的非裔美国人， 他们中的很多人甚至都拿不到薪水。 他们辛勤劳作， 只是为了能够 在自己耕种的土地上生活。 他们都是佃农，没有报酬。 因此适合被招募。

But it turned out that the South did not take kindly to this poaching of its cheap labor. The South actually did everything it could to keep the people from leaving. They would arrest people from the railroad platforms. Remember, putatively free American citizens. They would arrest them from their train seats. And when there were too many people to arrest, they would wave the train on through so that people who had been hoping and saving and praying for the chance to get to freedom had to figure out: How now will we get out? And as they made their way out of the South, away from Jim Crow, they followed three beautifully predictable streams as is the case in any migration throughout human history.

但结果是， 南方很不满这种 觊觎他们廉价劳动力的行为。 他们用尽一切手段来阻止黑人们离开。 他们会在铁路月台上进行抓捕。 别忘了，这些都是 名义上自由的美国公民。 他们有可能从火车座位上被带走。 如果要逮捕的人太多， 他们会直接把火车开回去， 让那些满怀希望， 省吃俭用， 祈祷能得到自由的人们， 不得不想清楚： 现在该怎么逃出去？ 当他们顺利逃离南方， 逃离种族隔离地区， 他们会沿着 3 条固定路线前进， 跟历史上的移民潮一样。

In this particular case, there were three streams. One was the migration along the East Coast from Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia to Washington DC, to Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and on up the East coast. There was the Midwest stream, which carried people from Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas to Chicago, to Detroit, to Cleveland and the entire Midwest. And then there was the West Coast stream, which carried people from Louisiana and Texas out to California. And when they really wanted to get away, they went to Seattle. And when they really, really wanted to get away, they went to Alaska, the farthest possible point within the borders of the United States from Jim Crow South.

具体来说，有 3 条路线。 一条是沿着东海岸， 从佛罗里达、乔治亚、 南北卡罗莱纳和维吉尼亚 到华盛顿、费城 新泽西、纽约然后一路沿东海岸北上。 还有一条中西部的路线， 是从密西西比、阿拉巴马、 田纳西和阿肯色， 到芝加哥、底特律、 克里夫兰和整个中西部地区。 最后是西海岸路线， 从路易斯安那和得克萨斯 到加利福尼亚。 如果想逃得更远一点， 他们就会去西雅图。 如果还要更更更远， 就会去阿拉斯加， 那儿应该是美国境内， 离种族隔离区最远的地方。

Before the Great Migration began, 90 percent of all African Americans were living in the South. Nearly held captive in the South. But by the time this Great Migration was over, nearly half were living all over the rest of the country. So this ended up being nearly a complete redistribution of part of an entire people.

在大移民开始前， 90%的非裔美国人生活在南方。 准确的说应该是被关在南方。 但到大移民结束的时候， 差不多有一半的人分布在全国各地。 这基本上是一次 对人口的再分配。

This Great Migration was the first time in American history that the lowest caste people signaled that they had options and were willing to take them. That had not happened in the three centuries in which African Americans had been on that soil at that time. It had not happened in 12 generations of enslavement that preceded nearly a century of Jim Crow. How many "greats" do you have to add to the word "grandparent" to begin to imagine how long enslavement lasted in the United States?

这场大移民，是美国历史上第一次， 来自最底层的人民 有了选择的机会， 他们也希望抓住机会。 3 个世纪前，当非裔美国人 踏上这片土地以来， 这样的事还从未发生过。 在经过了 1 个世纪的种族隔离 和 12 代奴隶制， 这样的事才第一次发生。 你要在祖父前面 加上多少个“曾”， 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 that the lowest caste people actually had a chance to choose for themselves what they would do with their God-given talents and where they would pursue them.

其次，大移民是在美国历史上第一次 来自最底层的人民 有机会为自己做选择， 选择如何运用上帝赐予的天赋， 以及在哪里能实现它。

Think about those cotton fields and those rice plantations and those tobacco fields and those sugar plantations. On those sugar plantations, and on those tobacco fields, and on those rice plantations, and on those cotton fields were opera singers, jazz musicians, playwrights, novelists, surgeons, attorneys, accountants, professors, journalists. And how do we know that? We know that because that is what they and their children and now their grandchildren and even great-grandchildren have often chosen to become once they had the chance to choose for themselves what they would do with their God-given talents.

想象那些棉花地、 稻田、 烟草地、 甘蔗园。 在甘蔗园里、 烟草地里、 稻田里、 棉花地里， 有歌剧演员、 爵士乐手、 剧作家、 小说家、 外科医生、 律师、 会计、 教授、 记者。 我们是怎么知道的呢？ 我们知道，是因为这是他们， 他们的孩子， 他们的孙子，甚至是重孙， 会选择的职业， 只要他们有机会来为自己选择， 来运用上帝赐予的天赋。

Without the Great Migration, there might not have been a Toni Morrison as we now know her to be. Her parents were from Alabama and from Georgia. They migrated to Ohio, where their daughter would get to do something that we all take for granted at this point, but which was against the law and against protocol for African Americans at the time that she would have been growing up in the South, had they stayed. And that is just to walk into a library and take out a library book. Merely by making the single decision to leave, her parents assured that their daughter would get access to books. And if you're going to become a Nobel laureate, it helps to get a book now and then. You know, it helps.

没有大移民， 也许今天就没有我们 熟悉的托妮·莫里森。 她的父母分别来自 阿拉巴马和乔治亚。 移民到了俄亥俄， 在那里，他们的女儿才能做一些 在今天看来是理所应当的事， 但是，对于非裔美国人来说， 如果她在父母曾生活的南方长大， 就是违法和违规了。 只是走进图书馆， 拿走一本图书，也是违法的。 仅仅是做了离开的决定， 她的父母就能保证女儿能读到书。 如果你想成为一名诺贝尔获奖者， 能随时借到书，会大有帮助。 大家都懂，肯定会有帮助的。

Music as we know it was reshaped by the Great Migration. As they came North, they brought with them, on their hearts and in their memories, the music that had sustained the ancestors -- the blues music, the spirituals and the gospel music that had sustained them through the generations. And they converted this music into whole new genres of music. And got the chance to record this music, this new music that they were creating, and to spread it throughout the world.

大移民还重塑了我们的音乐。 他们移民到北方， 也将音乐带了过去， 音乐存在他们的心里和记忆中， 支撑着他们的祖先， 蓝调，灵歌和福音音乐， 支撑了他们一代又一代人。 他们将这些音乐 转变成了全新的形式。 并有机会把这些新创的音乐 录制下来， 传播到全世界。

Without the Great Migration, "Motown" would not have existed. The founder, Berry Gordy, his parents were from Georgia. They migrated to Detroit. And when he got to be a grown man, he decided he wanted to go into music. But he didn't have the wherewithal to go all over the country looking for the best talent, and it turned out he didn't have to. It turned out that there he was, surrounded by children of the Great Migration whose parents had brought this music up with them during the journey. And among those children were these three girls, there was Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and there was a third one: Diana Ross. We might not know Diana Ross' name had there been no Great Migration. Because like a lot of Americans and a lot of human beings in general, she might not have existed because her parents might not have met. Her mother was from Alabama, father from West Virginia, they migrated to Detroit, different years, met, married, had her and her siblings, and thus a legend was born.

如果没有大移民， 摩城唱片将不会存在。 创始人贝利·高迪的父母 来自乔治亚州。 他们移居到了底特律。 他长大之后，决定要从事音乐。 但他资金不够，没法走遍全国， 去寻找那些有才华的人， 其实他并不需要走远。 他所在之处， 就有许多大移民的后代， 他们的父辈带着音乐上路。 在这些孩子中有3位姑娘， 分别是玛丽·威尔森， 弗洛伦斯·巴拉德 还有第 3 个， 黛安娜·罗斯。 如果不是大移民的话， 我们可能不会知道黛安娜·罗斯。 因为就像许多美国人 和许多普通人一样， 她可能都不会出生， 因为她的父母可能都无法相遇。 她母亲来自阿拉巴马， 父亲来自西维吉尼亚， 他们先后移民到底特律， 相遇、结婚，有了黛安娜和她的姐妹， 一代传奇就这样诞生了。

Jazz was a creation of the Great Migration. And one of the greatest gifts of the Great Migration. Starting with Louis Armstrong, who was born in Louisiana and migrated on the Illinois Central Railroad to Chicago, where he got the chance to build on the talent that was within him all along. Miles Davis. His parents were from Arkansas. They migrated to southern Illinois, where he would get the chance to build on the talents that were within him all along but which could have gone fallow in the cotton country of Arkansas. John Coltrane. He migrated at the age of 16 from North Carolina to Philadelphia, where, upon arrival in Philadelphia, he got his first alto sax. And there are lovers of jazz who cannot imagine a world without John Coltrane having gotten a hold of a saxophone. Thelonious Monk. Michael Jackson. Jesse Owens. Prince. August Wilson. Richard Wright. Ralph Ellison. Michelle Obama.

爵士乐是大移民的产物。 是大移民带来的最好的礼物之一。 最开始是路易斯·阿姆斯特朗， 出生于路易斯安那， 沿着伊利诺伊州中部铁路 移民到了芝加哥， 在那里他有机会锻炼才华， 那些与生俱来的才华。 迈尔士·戴维斯。 他的父母来自阿肯色州。 他们移民到伊利诺伊州南部， 在那里他有机会锻炼才华， 那些与生俱来的才华， 原本这些才华可能会被埋没在 阿肯色州的棉花地里。 约翰·柯川。 他是在 16 岁的时候， 从北卡罗来纳州移民到了费城， 在到达费城的时候， 他得到了第一支中音萨克斯。 爵士乐爱好者们简直无法想象 如果约翰·柯川手里没有萨克斯风， 这世界将会怎样。 塞隆尼斯·孟克。 迈克尔·杰克逊。 杰西·欧文斯。 王子。 奥古斯特·威尔逊。 理查德·赖特。 拉尔夫·艾里森。 米歇尔·奥巴马。

These are all a few of the millions of people who were products of the single decision to migrate. The people of the Great Migration met with tremendous resistance in the North. And they were not able to defeat all social injustice. But one person added to another person, added to another person, multiplied by millions, were able to become the advance guard of the civil rights movement. One person added to another person, added to another person, multiplied by millions, acting on a single decision, were able to change the region that they had been forced to flee. They had more power in leaving than by staying.

这些只是数百万 移民后代中的一小部分， 他们都是移民这个决定的产物。 大移民的人 在北方遇到了极大的抵制。 他们没法纠正所有的社会不公正。 但一个人 加上第二个人， 加上第三个人， 加上数百万人， 就能成为民权运动的巨大先锋力量。 一个人加上第二个人， 加上第三个人， 加上数百万人， 因为一个决定而行动起来， 就可以改变他们原本要逃离的地方。 离开的力量 比留下更加强大。

By their actions, these people who had absolutely nothing were able to do what a president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, was not able to do. These people, by their actions, were able to do what the Emancipation Proclamation could not do. These people, by their actions, were able to do what the powers that be, North and South, could not or would not do. They freed themselves.

通过他们的行动， 这些一无所有的人 甚至完成了美国总统， 亚布拉罕·林肯都无法完成的事情。 这些人，通过他们的行动， 完成了 《解放奴隶宣言》 也无法完成的事情。 这些人，通过他们的行动， 完成了当时的政府， 北方和南方， 无法完成也不愿完成的事。 他们解放了自己。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。