The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson describes the conditions that set in motion the migration of African Americans from the deep south to other parts of the country. Three individuals were followed from their birth to the end of their life. Each one struggled to make it to the north or to the west. In some cases, they attained a measure of success, in others they ended up in dystopian urban landscapes (south side of Chicago) with children that engaged in self destructive behaviors.

The Jim Crow south is described in specific detail. It is amazing, in retrospect, the amount of effort that was put into maintaining second class citizenship for African Americans. Trains heading south had to shift African American passengers to specific cars when entering southern towns from the north. The share cropping culture that replaced slavery also left many people trapped in a spiral of debt with no hope of any future. Law enforcement were often allowed to carry out vigilante justice without fear of prosecution.

Finding lodging for African Americans during road trips was very difficult with hotel owners not daring to rent to non-whites for fear of retribution. This less overt but equally problematic discrimination extended outside of the south. The entrance of a black family into a predominantly white neighborhood often resulted in white flight, harassment, or the destruction of the property. The newly arrived southern migrants were often seen as less culturally sophisticated by earlier arriving established northerners.

I read this book as part of a book club. It helped me get better prospective on the history of this migration and how these experiences may affect those that took part in it. The author provides a very granular view of these people's lives as she even drove one of them to their doctors appointments and attended their funerals. 

The Warmth of Other Suns - 4 min. 

Connecting to Her past Isabella Wilkerson - 3 min. 

Talk on the Warmth of Other Suns - 55 min.