By Isbael Wilkerson( 2010) | Review by Carol Harbers
In honor of Black History Month, ten AWCH members met in the LFR library to discuss Isabel Wilkerson’ s The Warmth of Other Suns, a sweeping account of the Great Migration. Between roughly 1915 and 1970, six million Black Americans left the Jim Crow South for cities in the North, Midwest, and West. Wilkerson calls this“ perhaps the biggest underreported story of the twentieth century”— a movement comparable to European mass migrations, yet one often left out of our history books. The resulting demographic shifts were staggering: Chicago’ s Black population grew from 40,000 to 800,000, while Los Angeles saw a more than tenfold increase.
A DISCUSSION OF THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS: THE EPIC STORY OF AMERICA’ S GREAT MIGRATION
To make this massive movement feel personal, Wilkerson focuses on three individuals: Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, a poor sharecropper’ s wife from Mississippi; George Starling, an ambitious citrus worker from Florida; and Robert“ Bob” Pershing Foster, a surgeon from Louisiana. Though they came from different social backgrounds, their reasons for leaving were remarkably similar. The“ push” was the suffocating and often violent caste system of the South— a racial hierarchy enforced not just by law, but by social norms and the constant threat of brutality. Leaving took incredible courage; many had to slip away in the middle of the night to avoid being stopped. The“ pull” was the hope for basic dignity, more opportunities, and better pay, especially as the two world wars created desperate labor shortages.
While they headed in search of a“ Promised Land,” they soon found that, while the North and West offered more legal freedom, equality remained out of reach. Black families faced fierce housing discrimination through redlining and restrictive covenants, which forced them into overcrowded, neglected neighborhoods and often sparked violence when they tried to move into white areas.
Employment was another hurdle, and it was particularly steep for women. While Black men eventually found a foothold in industrial jobs, Black women were largely shut out of those roles. They were often funneled into the most grueling and low-paying domestic work— laundry or cleaning— where they faced the double burden of racial and gender discrimination. On top of these economic struggles, Wilkerson highlights the“ internal exile” many felt: a deep sense of homesickness and a cultural disconnect between their Southern roots and their new Northern identities.
The book’ s real power is how it balances these intimate life stories with hard data, though many in our group agreed that a tighter edit might have helped with some of the more repetitive sections. Our discussion ended on a very personal note, with members reflecting on how this“ overlooked” chapter of history continues to shape American politics, culture, and neighborhoods today. The Great Migration changed the country forever, and Wilkerson’ s work is a moving tribute to the courage of those who made that journey.
CURRENTS 27