The Warmth of Other Suns

Let us not fool ourselves, we are far from the Promised Land, both north and south. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Warmth of Other Suns is a book that I think should be mandatory that every white person residing in the United States between the ages of 9 and 90 read. I dont mean that in a harsh way. When one looks at the many accusations of racism as we approach the second decade of the twentieth century, its too easy for most white Americans to think that there isnt a problem with racism in our country anymore, and the problems that we had were taken care of many years ago. I would guess 99% of African Americans would strongly disagree. Most would probably argue that whereas there have been great strides in the last half-century, there are still many more problems, and we have a long long way to go before there is any sort of racial equality. Whereas this book is definitely about the past, the feeling that one comes away with is that the past was so harsh and brutal for people of color, and the obstacles so insurmountable, that its simply impossible to think that things such as a Civil Rights Bill and Affirmative Action can remotely begin to heal the many misdeeds and scars. When one and ones family have lived in oppression for hundreds of years, a much more concerted effort by all is needed to make the many wrongs right. This book essentially tells the story of three black Americans that were born in the Jim Crow South in the early parts of the twentieth century where racism is considered normal and slavery has really been abolished in name only. This was a time and a place so violent that an ignorant white man could legally hang a black man if that man talked back to him or refused to step aside on the sidewalk to let his white superior counterpart pass. The three main characters each live about a decade apart, and each one resides in a different State in the South. Their lives and trades are all different, but the travails they face are oh so common. These three individuals have the same stories of thousands, if not millions of black people that resided in the South. For them it was only a generation or so ago that their ancestors resided there because they were legal property. After slavery is abolished in 1863, lives get slowly better for people of color in the deep South, but at some point near the turn of the twentieth century, its almost as if the white people on the losing side of the U.S. Civil War are still so bitter over their loss, that Jim Crow laws are passed that essentially strip away the freedoms of black people all over the South. The option many black people choose after being fed up with years of injustice? They migrate to the North along with their meager belongings where things are supposedly better. Better doesnt mean good, and this is where this true story can really sink ones misguided optimism. During a span of about 50 years (from 1919 to 1969), larger cities in the north such as Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, and Chicago see these destitute individuals arrive in multitudes in search of nothing more than basic dignity. Life is much easier in the North, but in an era where Americans were still tribal, the newly arrived migrants arent necessarily welcomed with open arms. The newly arrived black population finds themselves regulated to segregated slums and having to scrounge for jobs. It seems like no matter how bad a company might need to hire labor, many white people refuse to work next to a black person, so companies wont hire the migrants, and the job search becomes much harder, if not impossible. One of the criticisms of this book is that Ms. Wilkerson doesnt tell her story in a linear fashion. We jump around quite a bit amongst the three narratives. The fact that each of these three people began their migration in a different decade doesnt help one keep the accounts straight either. After a while, I confess that I couldnt really keep up with the many relatives and relations of the three characters. This really didnt take away from my fascination of the book. The author does a wonderful job explaining to the reader what her characters were going through at the time, and as horrific as most of them were, it manages to hit the point home for the reader in a major way. She also does a masterful job peppering her story with current events and anecdotes throughout the narrative that drive her thesis home. For example, we read about Olympic Gold Medal winner Jesse Owens who triumphed in Berlin in 1936. Adolph Hitler refused to acknowledge that a black athlete was superior to his Aryan race, so he literally turned his back on Owens during the award presentation. The irony here is that in Berlin, Owens was at least allowed to stay in the same hotel as his white teammates. In his own country, however, the hero not only had to stay in a different, subpar hotel during the Olympic celebration, but he was also forced to enter and exit the hotel through the service entrance. So the subject matter here isnt pleasant, but its a very necessary history lesson. Although the author doesnt explicitly connect the dots, she seems to allege that the many present-day problems that people of color encounter in their daily lives in crack infested neighborhoods are a direct result from the neglect, hatred, and isolation of years past during the migration. Yes, there have been strides to improve these situations, we still have quite a journey ahead of us. In conclusion, if youre a white person and you cant fathom why there are still many accusations of racism in todays culture, I implore you to read this book. If reading this book cant open your eyes, I honestly dont know what will. I also pity that you have such a hard heart. We can only hope that things will continue to improve, yet at a much faster pace than what weve experienced.

I would give this book a thousand stars if I could. I\’m very grateful to the author and everyone she interviewed for sharing these stories with me. This book has deeply affected me. Others have reviewed the content, writing style and extensive research. My comments are of a more personal nature. Until I read this book I would have told you I (a white Southern woman in her 50s) was particularly well-informed about the experience of African Americans, having read almost all of the authors she quoted in the book and many she didn\’t, including Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston and more contemporary authors, having studied the civil rights movement from my armchair and seeking out African American theater, arts, and friends. I was wrong. I was ignorant. I didn\’t know about the Great Migration. I had picked up bits and pieces of the extent of Jim Crow from my reading, and I had read them from the perspective of someone who wanted to draw from their experience without being, apparently, very curious about the context of it. This book, these stories, opened my eyes by putting the experiences in chronological order and in context. Without ever being maudlin, divisive, or melodramatic, the author struck a tone that allowed the reader, me, to feel the power of these stories. The author did a great service to the people she interviewed and her readers by allowing us to decide how we feel about these stories. She confidently and brilliantly presented them in a matter-of-fact manner and in the exact words of the person describing their own experience, trusting, correctly that their emotional impact would not be missed. By focusing on every day experiences rather than sweeping generalities, the book allowed me to see the insidious and pervasive nature of Jim Crow, how it affected every moment of every day, how no action could be too insignificant to be viewed as a threat to the social order and therefore to involve the risk of one\’s life. I had no idea that it was illegal for black people to work outside the cotton fields or orange groves, nor did I have any idea it was so dangerous to leave the south. These lives and stories are deeply, deeply affecting. It helped (although it hurt emotionally) to simultaneously read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander and The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, a novel about apartheid in South Africa. I personally thank the author and everyone she interviewed. Deepest gratitude.

I would highly recommend this book which describes the personal stories of 3 black Americans who moved from the South to Northern cities in the US during the Great Migration. It intersperses those stories with historical facts from the time and gives a moving, joyous and painful view into their experiences, hopes and dreams. Their stories show how much we have in common as people, regardless of race or class, and how our individual experiences drive our life choices and outcomes. A truly wonderful piece of work.

Beautiful, inspiring, educational read. I learned so much and enjoyed the whole journey. I fell in love with the three protagonists. How fortunate we are that they, and Wilkerson, chose to share their stories with the world. Absolutely everyone should read this.

Informing myself.

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