“The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration” Book Recommendation

As part of our Racial Justice Initiative, Indivisible OH 12 members are sharing relevant book recommendations. The latest is from Mike Halaiko. Here he reviews The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson.

If you have read the book or have questions, please join the conversation in our Facebook group, HERE. Here's the link to the book description at CML: https://cml.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1278023105.

--Why did you choose this book?

Mike: I grew up in one of the many industrial cities of the north, Akron, Ohio. Even though I didn't understand planned racial segregation as a boy growing up there in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, I observed first hand the many ill effects of the not-so-subtle Jim Crow of a city in the north. As an adult, I have been very interested in the many forces that cause people to migrate. Ms. Wilkerson's chronicling of The Great Migration is superb in detail about why our African American sisters and brothers experienced an extreme pull to travel northward from 1915-1970.

--Why do you recommend this book?

Mike: Wilkerson is a brilliant researcher and writer. For her 600+ page history, she interviewed numerous migrants and their families, but distilled her narrative to focus on three main characters from three different states in the south (Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana). Those three main characters migrated to Harlem, Chicago, and Los Angeles, with much hardship and personal information about the horrors of Jim Crow and racial hatred, in both the south and the north.

--What surprised you most about this book?

Mike: This book further opened my eyes to how unjust, even trying to build equity, has been for African Americans, and how difficult it was for African American migrants to escape Jim Crow in the south, only to find a more virulent form of it in the north.

--Why do you think members of Indivisible OH12 will be interested in this book?

Mike: I think members of Indivisible will want to read this book to get an even more comprehensive history of systemic racism in America, and how the big picture shows that the cards have been stacked against African Americans, in so many ways, over our history.