Isabel Wilkins made an appearance at Howard a few weeks back to discuss her book, Warmth of Other Suns. Three points she made during the discussion included: many of us would not be where we were had the great migration never happened, the great migration was the first time that African Americans decided that they had other options and that they would persue them, and in the making of this book Wilkins interviewed over 1200 people.
Two things that Ms. Wilkins said that peaked my interest was that 6 million African Americans fled the south during the Great Migration and African Americans would be arrested if they were caught leaving. This was astonishing to see how a society that degraded African Americans so much actually needed them to keep society afloat.
Her talk made the Great Migration more tangible to me. Normally we learn about these things through text books; however, she presented this topic through real experiences. It proves that the Great Migration isn't just a part of history but it lives it's legacy through African American's daily.
Kristen Bailey
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