These excerpts from Wilkerson’s Warmth of Other Suns were a great read for me because I really enjoy American history, especially regarding race issues. I’ve heard the story of blacks moving out of the South during the twentieth century, but I’ve never read anything related to the topic that was so detailed. These first-hand accounts of the Great Migration were very enlightening and intriguing to read.
Something from the first excerpt that caught my attention was Wilkerson’s question regarding her mother’s picture: “Was it a braver thing to stay, or was it a braver thing to go?” (12). I think the answer is both, and that either one can be interpreted as cowardice towards the other. Of course it was incredibly brave to embark alone on a journey into an unknown world, but it would have also been brave to stay and endure the cruelties of segregation. On the other hand, leaving could mean you were afraid of what would happen if you’d stayed, and staying could mean you were afraid of what would happen if you’d left.
The closing statements of the first excerpt are: “They did what human beings looking for freedom, throughout history, have often done. They left,” (15). Wilkerson offers multiple examples of humans doing just that over the course of a few hundred years, and each one made me wonder what would have happened if the people had never left. It’s great to hear the stories of those who defined the Great Migration, but now I’m curious to hear the stories of those who didn’t. I want to know who was eventually better off—the people who left or the people who stayed.
Although history often leads us to believe that those who left were much better off, it appears that such is not necessarily the case. As mentioned in the seventh excerpt, even in the North, blacks were condemned to certain residential areas and were restricted in terms of their jobs. Discrimination was nonexistent in general, but Northerners still exercised their own personal discriminations by, for example, keeping blacks out of their organizations.
Warmth of Other Suns is a great retelling of an important part of American history. It provides an interesting perspective on something that most people don’t recognize as an event. I felt that it could have included some different viewpoints, such as from people on the other side of the migration, but it still offered good and thought-provoking insight on something that affected many lives.
