Exploring how The Great Migration—the movement of six million African Americans from the rural South to the North and West—fundamentally reshaped American cuisine by transforming Southern food traditions into a national legacy. Melba Wilson and Chef Andrew Black explain that migrants didn't just carry hope; they carried "memory, survival, and legacy" through recipes like collard greens, cornbread, and okra, which served as vital cultural anchors in their new urban environments. By blending traditional Southern flavors with Northern influences, these families and early Black-owned restaurants created hybrid dishes that eventually evolved into the globally recognized "soul food," proving that food remains a powerful history book that fosters a shared sense of belonging across the diaspora.