The Warmth of Other Suns

I'd heard high praise for The Warmth of Other Suns, but reading a 600+ page nonfiction book? In this economy? Trust me when I say it's worth it.Wilkerson is a journalist by trade whose aim in writing this was to provide a more expansive and nuanced understanding of the Great Migration, a decades long process wherein several million Black Americans moved from the South to the North from the 1910s to the 1970s. Doing justice to a phenomenon so widely spread through time and geography is a mammoth undertaking. Wilkerson interviewed over 1,000 migrants. Three interviewees are featured: 1. Ida Mae, who migrated in the 30s from Mississippi to Chicago2. George Starling, who migrated in the 40s from Florida to New York City3. Robert Pershing Foster, who migrated in the 50s from Louisiana to Los AngelesThere are many highlights and takeaways in a book with such depth. You see how leaving the Jim Crow South was for some migrants like attempting to escape an abusive relationship. Secretly making preparations, telling few if any of their departure, leaving quiet by panicked under cover of darkness, well aware that if caught they might be hurt or worse. You see how the movements North mirror immigration across the Atlantic—how Southern migrants spoke with accents unfamiliar to those born and raised in the North. How they brought regional cuisines and customs with them. How they lived packed like sardines in certain neighborhoods. How they had to work grueling and low-paying jobs few others would consider. Wilkerson talks about how many unions wouldn't allow Black migrants membership. She discusses the arbitrary nature of segregation—how states separated races on public transit differently than one another, so passengers and train cars had to be shuffled around accordingly when state lines were crossed. She discusses how Black Americans were jailed without evidence, only to be dragged out of cells to be lynched before they could go to trial. She discusses how local police and sometimes state and federal backup turned a blind eye to or even participated in the lynchings and riots they were meant to be quelling. She discusses how long it took for integration court rulings and legislation to be enforced in certain parts (hint: decades). She discusses how Black migrants earned half as much for the same work, only to be charged double the rent for the same apartment.This isn't necessarily key to the story, but at one point Wilkerson makes a point that's stuck with me. In an era where masculinity was so defined by whether you could provide for and protect your family, Black men experienced racism as a form of emasculation. They were called “boy” by white men younger than them who they had to always call “Sir.” They could do backbreaking labor in searing heat every day for a year, only to come away earning not a penny, or worse, somehow in debt. They couldn't safely stand up for themselves or their loved ones. They couldn't intercede to prevent their sisters and wives from being harassed on the street. They couldn't stop a white child from bullying their children. They could be lynched for anything or nothing, and none of the perpetrators would be charged, let alone found guilty. It didn't matter that they were smart or hardworking or strong. To know their place was to know the danger of knowing their worth, or even letting others suspect they might know it. Suffice it to say, The Warmth of Other Suns is nothing short of a triumph. Everyone should read it. It's intimate, hopeful, sad, impressive, eye-opening, moving, the list goes on. It is written beautifully. So much historical nonfiction can feel dense and textbook-like; this could not be further from that. It is profound and a new personal favorite of mine. Now to get my hands on [b:Caste 51152447 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents Isabel Wilkerson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597267568l/51152447.SY75.jpg 75937597].