The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
This was the author’s first book and she won the Pulitzer Prize fir it. In my opinion it was well deserved. This book about the black migration from the south to the rest of the country (1914-1975) fills a gap in social history. She did a tremendous amount of research and interviews. The writing is like velvet. I am not the only writer who envies her talent.
She follows the migration of three people who sought in three different decades to escape the indignities and violence of Jim Crow. She follows their life and families in New York, Chicago, and Las Angeles, and the racism they found there. People who say we are a racist country would have been right in those years. Coming home from Camp Lejeune in 1864, we stopped in Rocky Mount, NC to change buses. I went into the snack bar and found I was invisible to the waitresses. I realized they were all black. Serving me would have put them at risk. I found the larger, white snack bar on the other side of the building.
The great migration not only changed America and the cities, but destroyed overt racism in the country, eventually the south as well when they found they had a labor shortage. If you have any empathy at all, parts of this book will make you angry. Parts will make you admire it as well. I knew about the great migration, but not the details and the ongoing impact on people and the country. I highly recommend this book.
Robert A. Hall, Amazon Author
“Quotes for the Conservative Heart
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