The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

Much has been written about the inhuman nature of slavery. However, this book is specifically about the Jim Crow system of southern segregation and African Americans subsequent response to it – The Great Migration.  From 1915 to 1970 approximately 6 million African Americans fled the brutal and dehumanizing conditions in the south.  This massive relocation permanently changed our nation’s demographic make-up and has had a substantial impact on American culture.

 

Through this wonderful book, Wilkerson chronicles the heroism and courage of a generation of African Americans who were determined to succeed despite overwhelming odds. There are so many aspects of this book that shed light on the complexities of the African American experience that it will hopefully help readers to better understand race relations today.

This book personally touched me, because my family was part of this migration.  Although my father and maternal grandparents had first-hand experience with the Jim Crow South, it was rarely discussed around me as child.  Every effort was made to leave the worst in the past.  Therefore, growing-up in the north as part of the first post-civil rights generation, it was always really difficult for me to fathom that less than two decades earlier people who looked like me were engaged in an epic battle to obtain equal rights as full citizens of the United States.  So for African Americans of my generation and younger, I think this book will help us to understand and appreciate the struggles that our relatives endured and overcame on their march toward equality.