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Warmth Of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
I noticed that too Barbara. I don't know why she proposed to write it that way, as you say though it was a minor distraction as a whole.
The repetitions made me wonder if some of the chapters were written to be stand-along magazine articles. She is a journalist.
I definitely got somewhat fed up with the repetitions, and wondered why she didn't edit those, but it did eventually occur to me that it might have been intentional--i.e., holding with the oral storytelling tradition. I don't know, but eventually I managed to let go of my irritation.
I had some of the same thoughts and concerns about the repetitions. Some of them did seem to reinforce key points but I also couldn't let this stand in the way of my enjoyment of the overall book and the education provided.
I tried to find a web page for her,but I guess you have to go through her publishers. This is an interesting question that I would like answered. I am sure she had a reason or maybe her publishers thought it was important enough to let her reiterate.
She has a Facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Isabel-...
as well as a website:
http://isabelwilkerson.com/
On the home page of her website, she shows a picture of her mother leaning on a post, looking as free as a bird. I saw on Amazon that the picture was taken outside of Meridian Hill park in DC, the same park that my parents used to take walks in when they were courting.
I felt that the repetition echoed the stories that she heard from those she interviewed and was deliberate. For me, it increased the sense of the relentless pressure to find "other suns" and build a life after leaving the south.
For me, the fictional companion piece to this book is the short story collection All Aunt Hagar's Children by the brilliant Edward P. Jones. These stories are about the people of the Great Migration who settled in DC and their children. Jones is a part of that second generation as am I, and we are about the same age, so the DC he presents is my DC and he nails it beautifully. The dedication of the book is the following:
To my sister
Eunice Ann Mary Jones-Washington
and
to the multitudes who came up out of the South
for something better, something different, and, again,
to the memory of my mother,
Jeanette S. M. Jones,
who came as well and found far less
than even the little she dared hope for
If you haven't read the book, try the last story, "Tapestry". I can't think about this story without thinking of my mother leaving her family in Dennison, TX for a whole new world on DC.
Wilhelmina wrote: "She has a Facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Isabel-...
as well as a website:
http://isabelwilkerson.com/
On the home page of her website, she shows a picture of..."
I know she has a web and facebook page, but I was reticent about posting a question on it, Mina. Your explanation fits well, I assumed she was driving home a point, but I didn't know to what end. I will add "All Aunt Hagar's Children". I just bought The Known World.
I am just starting the book now. Hopefully this topic will stay active for a while, because I am planning to come back here soon.
Even if the topic is not active you will be able to post your comments , which I hope you do. I will try to respond to let you know we are here. I am looking forward to your comments.
Ioana wrote: "I am just starting the book now. Hopefully this topic will stay active for a while, because I am planning to come back here soon."I'm only halfway through, so some of us will read comments or make additional comments.
Even though I finished the book a while ago, I am enjoying returning to this discussion as more readers finish and add on.
These are questions posed on the Barnes&Noble web site.What would American culture look like today if the Great Migration hadn’t happened?
Near the end of the book, Wilkerson asks: “With all that grew out of the mass movement of people, did the Great Migration achieve the aim of those who willed it? Were the people who left the South—and their families—better off for having done so?
What is the value of Wilkerson basing her research primarily on firsthand, eyewitness accounts, gathered through extensive interviews, of this historical period?
I don't know if the families who left the South were better off, but eventually the South was better off. Now the descendents of those who migrated to the North and West are returning in droves to the South, especially North Carolina and Georgia.
Emily wrote: "I don't know if the families who left the South were better off, but eventually the South was better off. Now the descendents of those who migrated to the North and West are returning in droves to..."Why do you think that is Emily? Are they wanting a slower life style or more connectivity to their past?
Kitty wrote: "Emily wrote: "I don't know if the families who left the South were better off, but eventually the South was better off. Now the descendents of those who migrated to the North and West are returnin..."Actually most that I know go for economic advancement and better weather conditions. All of them love it in the South and only a few have encountered overt discrimination. Many have moved to Atlanta which I do not believe has a slower life style.
That is encouraging on one hand, but that discrimination is still lingering is disconcerting.
I agree with Emily - most African Americans are not returning to the places their parents and grandparents left. They are urban or suburban people, not rural people. They are moving for the same reasons as everyone else - the loss of jobs in the north, the lower cost of living in the south, etc. The defeat of Jim Crow has made the playing field fairly even for African Americans in all regions of the country. This, of course, does not mean that discrimination has ended, but only that it's just about as likely to exist in Chicago as in North Carolina. (The first place that I was ever called the "N" word was Boston.)I absolutely can not picture what the country would have been like without the Great Migration, and not just because I wouldn't exist! I can not picture people staying in the south under Jim Crow if there was an way out.
If the migration had not have happened, maybe the civil rights movement would have been slower in coming. As it was it was a slow process. Do you think civil rights leaders would have had the tenacity to persevere in the Jim Crow South?
That's what they did - Jim Crow was alive and well until the civil rights movement killed it. I certainly think that the contrast between the life possible in the north and the reality of the south helped the movement along. But there had always been resistance. To be honest, I think that what helped the civil rights movement the most, in addition to the courage and persistence of the people, was the advent of television and other mass media. What was done in darkness was brought into the light, as the old saying goes.
Very astute, Media has its good side also. I think many were shocked at the severity of the laws in some states. Mina you and I are about the same age. I was born in Ohio, I am sure there was discrimination ,but not so much segregation.
I had my eyes open in Georgia in 1960. I was 12 years old. We went to visit an aunt and uncle stationed there and we could not play with the black children and that was on the army base. Out in town was worse.
Here is an interesting timeline for Mississippi civil rights movement.
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilr...
You could say Ida Mae's birth state was one of the worst offenders of the fourteenth amendment. I am so glad Ms. Wilkerson undertook this monumental task, before so many are lost to death. She went directly to the horse's mouth to get stories of unbelievable strength and perseverance.
Mina,You are so right about the role television played in the Civil Rights Movement. I show news clips of some of the marches and demonstrations in my ESL history class. The treatment of the participants was absolutely appalling. I think those pictures really woke up the rest of the country to what was happening.
I think the images of people being attacked with water cannon and dogs will always be remembered. Doesn't matter that the films were on black and white TV. Maybe that made it an even more vibrant visual image.
I have this book, but have not yet read it. I've been reading and enjoying the discussion anyway, after all I already know the plot, I'll be reading the book for content and context!We visited MOMA here in New York, where I managed to miss Van Gogh's Starry Night, though I did see many other wonderful works of art. Among them, Jacob Lawrence's "Great Migration" series. I am familiar with Lawrence as a Seattle artist, but I had not heard of this series before. There are about sixty paintings of different aspects of The Great Migration. They would be perfect illustrations for Wilkerson's book.
You can see all of the paintings here:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/o...
Theresa
I could not get it to work. The slide show would not load.
Did you click on the link at the very bottom? It will take you to a web page, where the paintings are divided up into four groups? It works fine for me.Theresa
No it doesn't load, maybe it is my computer. A page comes up, but the slides don't load.
Theresa, I got to the page with the 4 links but clicking on the links takes me to a page with the numbers for slides but nothing appears. Any suggestions?
Theresa I switched browser and it worked, google chrome and firefox were not loading. I had to go to internet explorer 9.
Beautiful paintings that add another dimension to our reading. Thank you Theresa for sharing these.
Thanks Kitty, at least now I know the problem
I like the work of Jacob Lawrence a lot. Used to teach about him in my Art History class.
I do too. This exhibit came through Atlanta a number of years ago and it was just spectacular.
I was finally able to get back and finish this wonderful book. In my GR review I mention how reading it reminded me of the arrival of the first African-American family in my town:http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
A lovely reaction by most of the neighbors. What silliness in the first place, to move because you didn't want a certain element in the vicinity. You just might make some wonderful new friends if scales were removed from eyes, or maybe a blindfold would be in order.
Philip wrote: "I was finally able to get back and finish this wonderful book. In my GR review I mention how reading it reminded me of the arrival of the first African-American family in my town:http://www.good..."
What a lovely story. Did you stay in contact after the Aarons moved?
The parents divorced after the Braves moved to Atlanta, and my mom stayed friends with Barbara Aaron. The girl my age ended up transferring to a parochial school and we eventually lost touch. Henry Aaron mentions in his autobiography that they took Gail out of school due to prejudice, which I don't remember amongst our classmates at least. What I do remember is a fun party at her house in seventh grade, I think it was.
Wonderful memory Philip. Thanks for sharing.
Philip,I am so envious that you lived across the street from the great Henry Aaron, "Move over, Babe, here come's Henry!"
The other night when I was working at a jazz concert, I asked another volunteer if he had read THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS. The subject came up when he told me he was from Chicago, and he is African American. I told him about the three people that Isabel Wilkerson had concentrated on. This man just retired from a small community as Superintendent of Schools. He told me his aunt had worked as a maid and his uncle had worked on the railroad. I don't know if I persuaded him to read the book, but it could have been about his family.
Hi- perhaps no one will ever read this as I am posting this so late.Wilkerson does an amazing job of unifying vastly different times and experiences. I had never thought of the Great Migration as lasting so long. Like most, I thought it mostly came about as a result of WWII, although I also knew of the race riots that began after WWI - but somehow didn't connect them both. Nor did I connect the horrific conditions of blacks in the South the the WWI issues.
I came from a family that did not take part in the migration because our father was an administrator in what are now known as historically black colleges. Although he was able to get a PhD from a college in the North (University of Chicago), he was not able to work as either a teacher or administrator in predominantly white colleges. Plus, being a race man, I am pretty sure he wanted to work with his people, i.e. poor blacks in the South.
I also thought the three people she used to illustrate the migration were chosen with great insight. So different, yet essentially looking for the same thing.
I lived in Atlanta, my husband and brother went to Morehouse (and my son later on) and I graduated from Spelman. This made the Dr. Foster story closer to my own experiences. And, he was married to an aunt's brother's daughter. Not that we were that close. My father worked for Dr. Foster's father in law, and my husband later sued Atlanta University on behalf of protestors that wanted to camp on some half way vacant Atlanta University property. (Sounds like the Occupy movement, doesn't it.)
What i Liked was how the people, for the most part, blossomed once they left the South.
It really is an amazing book, and although I have lived, studied and taught civil rights I learned a lot through reading it.
I urge people to read it, and just stick to it. Its long, but interesting, and worth the time you put into it.
Jane wrote: "Hi- perhaps no one will ever read this as I am posting this so late.Wilkerson does an amazing job of unifying vastly different times and experiences. I had never thought of the Great Migration as..."
Just letting you know I read about your perspective. I have recommended this book for my reading club and they seem excited about it.
Hi Jane, so glad you posted your comment and story. It is a beautifully written book as well as being informative. Your family certainly contributed to that era as well. Wilkerson could have taken a page from your family history book. Thank you for sharing, and being a part of this group. I hope to hear more from you in the future.
Jane wrote: "Hi- perhaps no one will ever read this as I am posting this so late.Wilkerson does an amazing job of unifying vastly different times and experiences. I had never thought of the Great Migration as..."
I am reading your post. :-)
I am only about 1/4 through the book, but I like it quite a bit. It's very interesting! (and sad...people can be so cruel)
Welcome to Constant Reader, Jane B. It is an amazing book, isn't it? Your connections with the Foster family must have made it feel even closer. I was shocked at how little I knew, thinking that my age (64) and interest in civil rights would have kept me more informed. I blamed some of that on my race (white) but I think Wilkerson herself discovered a lot as she did the interviews. I think her great accomplishment was bringing it all together in a readable fashion. I'm usually not a lover of nonfiction but this book kept my attention, to say the least.
I want to echo much of what Barbara has said as I feel the same. I've also recommended this book to many, having found it so full of information I wasn't aware of and writing it in such a wonderfully readable way.
No post is ever too late, Jane. Welcome to Constant Reader. Your insights are very much appreciated. This book is one I will remember for a very long time.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Known World (other topics)All Aunt Hagar's Children: Stories (other topics)
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration (other topics)
Native Son (other topics)
Go Tell It on the Mountain (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Edward P. Jones (other topics)Isabel Wilkerson (other topics)
Overall, the book is excellent. I have lived through many changes in this country as a white person. I never fully grasped the pervasiveness of prejudice and discrimination both in the North and South. It makes me better understand the reluctance of many older blacks to trust anyone with a lighter complexion than themselves.