
Pictured: Isabel Wilkerson and Tim Zaun
On Thursday, February 24 2011, the Maple Heights Branch of the Cuyahoga County Library hosted Isabel Wilkerson.
Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, discussed her new book entitled, "The Warmth of Other Suns." The New York Times Book Review named it one of the top 10 releases of 2010.
"The Warmth of Other Suns" chronicles the decades-long (1915-1970), migration of almost 6 million black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities in search of a better life.
Wilkerson herself is a product of the Great Migration. Her parents emigrated from Georgia and southern Virginia to Washington, D.C., where she was born and raised.
Her 15-year project garnered over 1200 interviews to complete the book.
During the Great Migration in the South, three of the many injustices blacks endured included:
- In courtrooms, black citizens were sworn in using different Bibles from white citizens.
- Blacks could not pass white motorists on the road, no matter how slow they were driving.
- Every four days, a black person was lynched.
The Great Migration exemplified a defection from a caste system that offered little hope of a better life. It's beauty lies in such facts as:
- The Great Migration was leaderless, initiated instinctively in their hearts.
- It was a tough decision to leave the South, no politicians, ministers, etc. were there for direction.
- Their exodus offered no guarantee that they'd ever again see their relatives and friends left behind.
Wilkerson reminded the audience that the Great Migration was a human experience that transcended black culture exclusively. All peoples today are influenced by the Great Migration, including talents from all walks of life.
She concluded, stating that the Great Migration has much to teach all of us. It holds the answer to any questions we face today. If 6 million downtrodden African Americans took the risk for a better life and faced the unknown, there is nothing we can't accomplish today.
Explore future author visits sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Public Library at one of its 28 branches. And, if you appreciate premier literature, be sure to read "The Warmth of Other Suns."