Isabel Wilkerson Instagram – Incredibly honored to see The Warmth of Other Suns on the Kirkus Reviews list of the Best Books of the 21st Century (thus far). What a tribute to the people of the Great Migration and to this watershed in American history at a time when we need history more than ever.
The Great Migration was a leaderless movement of six million brave souls defecting the Jim Crow South. It changed our country, north and south, widened the prospects of generations of African Americans and brought us jazz, Motown and such luminaries as Toni Morrison, August Wilson, Diana Ross and John Coltrane.
Warmth has remained in the public consciousness thanks to all of you who have loved and embraced this book from the start. I’ve treasured hearing from so many of you that Warmth set you on the path of discovery into your own family histories of migration, whether across oceans or across rivers, and the enduring human drive to be free.
At times like this, I think back with love and admiration for Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster, the real-life protagonists whose stories it was my honor to tell. They entrusted me with their lives and recollections not knowing the outcome. I so wish they could have lived to see this day and to know how their trials and triumphs have inspired so many for so long.
Deepest gratitude to @kirkus_reviews and to every reader of The Warmth of Other Suns. | Posted on 03/Apr/2025 21:27:28
