I’d read an excerpt from Wilkerson’s Caste for an undergraduate sociology class. Back then, I was enthralled with her way with words. So, of course, years later, I picked this up. 

It had a slow start, especially with the back and forth between the three main characters. At times, Wilkerson’s wording is bit clunky, too much, a little self-congratulatory. But, overall, she presents the migrants’ stories in a beautiful retelling. It’s nothing short of masterful. It does become a bit of a slog to read when the migrants have settled into their respective destinations. Even writing this right now, having just finished the book, I’ve forgotten most of what each character went through. It’s a big book (around 530 of actual book) so of course the details get lost. And then, Wilkerson piles on extra chapters of information not directly germane to the characters. Most of them span around 70 years so I’ll give myself grace. But, this book is a wonderful piece of history of education. Just yesterday, I found out that it’s not actually black people that factor into property value decreasing. I learned what a pullman porter was. How Black people hopped trains to make it to the North. “Little” things like this made this read worth it. 

This is a fantastic and engaging book about America's Great Migration in the 1900s as Black Americans left the Jim Crow South for new lives and better opportunities in the North. We follow three people's real stories - Ida Mae, George and Robert from three different Southern locations as they move themselves and their families and how their lives turn out in the North but they never lose their connection to the South.

I listened to this on audiobook and while it was a long listen, I throughly enjoyed it. As a non-American reader, I enjoyed learning more about this time in American history and this isn't something I had known about before though obviously we learn about the American Civil War and the US Civil Rights Movement in Irish education, this is a topic that is connected to these but its own story entirely. I found it interesting to see how the North wasn't automatically better for the migrants - while they escaped the suffocating Jim Crow of the South, they still faced and dealt with a lot of racial discrimination and divide in different ways in the North - and Northern cities such as Chicago and New York were forever changed after his migration as well in socio-economic and city division ways as well which was fascinating. It was also amazing to hear of some of the famous people who would never have been able to reach the heights they did if their parents or family members hadn't chosen to migrant to the North where they had the opportunities the did.

The care and detail put into the research for this book must have been immense and really commend the author for doing a stellar job - from the sounds of it, this book took a long time to research and write as she sat and talked to Ida Mae, George and Robert in the later years of their lives to understand their story and experiences better.

Highly recommend this!

 📚 This is one of the most engaging nonfiction books I've ever read. Wilkerson's narrative style draws you in immediately.
📚 It's such an incredible account of ordinary people doing something extraordinary. So much of the history we learn is about the exceptional people, and Wilkerson reminds us that history is also written by everyday people.
📚 I never learned about this period of history in school - we never made it much beyond the turn of the century in my classes. We often think of historical events as discrete periods of time, but THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS deftly shows how interconnected everything is.