The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

Isabel Wilkerson chronicles the migration of Black citizens from the South to northern and western cities between 1915 and 1970, when nearly six million people relocated in search of better lives. This exodus significantly transformed American cities and society. Wilkerson conducted interviews with more than a thousand people and accessed new data and official records to document this migration. She compares this American exodus to migrations of other peoples throughout history. The narrative follows three individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who left Mississippi sharecropping in 1937 for Chicago and achieved blue-collar success; George Starling, who fled Florida for Harlem in 1945 and became involved in civil rights activism; and a third individual whose story is also central to the account. Through these personal histories and historical detail, Wilkerson presents a definitive account of how these journeys unfolded and reshaped the nation.