From slavery to the Civil War, to the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, to the century of Jim Crow, to the Great Migration, to the black-led civil rights laws that opened doors not only for black citizens but for women of all races and for immigrants — black history is American history. The country’s full story cannot be told without it. Where would we be as a nation, what kind of culture would we have, without the music, art, literature, hard labor and inspired creativity of black Americans, who converted trauma into triumph over the centuries? Genius knows no color. And every single group on these shores has been necessary to making this country what it is, to the benefit not only of this country but of the world. _________________ Photo 1: Fourth U.S. Infantry Detail, U.S. Colored Troops, Civil War, 1864 Photo 2: Segregated beach, Florida, 1940s Photo 3: Tuskegee Airmen, World War II Photo 4: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series Photo 5: Dancers at the Savoy Ballroom Photo 6: Jim Crow Alabama, 1956, photo by Gordon Parks Photo 7: John Coltrane Photo 8: Toni Morrison Photo 9: James Baldwin Photo 10: “A Raisin in the Sun,” the 1961 film based on Lorraine Hansberry’s play, starring Sydney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Claudia McNeil Photo 11: Leontyne Price Photo 12: Martin Luther King Jr.
From slavery to the Civil War, to the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, to the century of Jim Crow, to the Great Migration, to the black-led civil rights laws that opened doors not only for black citizens but for women of all races and for immigrants — black history is American history. The country’s full story cannot be told without it. Where would we be as a nation, what kind of culture would we have, without the music, art, literature, hard labor and inspired creativity of black Americans, who converted trauma into triumph over the centuries? Genius knows no color. And every single group on these shores has been necessary to making this country what it is, to the benefit not only of this country but of the world. _________________ Photo 1: Fourth U.S. Infantry Detail, U.S. Colored Troops, Civil War, 1864 Photo 2: Segregated beach, Florida, 1940s Photo 3: Tuskegee Airmen, World War II Photo 4: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series Photo 5: Dancers at the Savoy Ballroom Photo 6: Jim Crow Alabama, 1956, photo by Gordon Parks Photo 7: John Coltrane Photo 8: Toni Morrison Photo 9: James Baldwin Photo 10: “A Raisin in the Sun,” the 1961 film based on Lorraine Hansberry’s play, starring Sydney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Claudia McNeil Photo 11: Leontyne Price Photo 12: Martin Luther King Jr.
From slavery to the Civil War, to the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, to the century of Jim Crow, to the Great Migration, to the black-led civil rights laws that opened doors not only for black citizens but for women of all races and for immigrants — black history is American history. The country’s full story cannot be told without it. Where would we be as a nation, what kind of culture would we have, without the music, art, literature, hard labor and inspired creativity of black Americans, who converted trauma into triumph over the centuries? Genius knows no color. And every single group on these shores has been necessary to making this country what it is, to the benefit not only of this country but of the world. _________________ Photo 1: Fourth U.S. Infantry Detail, U.S. Colored Troops, Civil War, 1864 Photo 2: Segregated beach, Florida, 1940s Photo 3: Tuskegee Airmen, World War II Photo 4: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series Photo 5: Dancers at the Savoy Ballroom Photo 6: Jim Crow Alabama, 1956, photo by Gordon Parks Photo 7: John Coltrane Photo 8: Toni Morrison Photo 9: James Baldwin Photo 10: “A Raisin in the Sun,” the 1961 film based on Lorraine Hansberry’s play, starring Sydney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Claudia McNeil Photo 11: Leontyne Price Photo 12: Martin Luther King Jr.
Reposting with full videos…. A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Take a listen to her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
Reposting with full videos…. A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Take a listen to her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
Reposting with full videos…. A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Take a listen to her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
Reposting with full videos…. A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Take a listen to her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
Reposting with full videos…. A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Take a listen to her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
Ecstatic at the news that the Los Angeles Times has named The Warmth of Other Suns to its list of the 30 Best Nonfiction Books of the Last 30 Years, ranking it No. 1. Honored to be in the company of so many authors whose work I have admired — from Joan Didion and Ta-Nehisi Coates, to Erik Larson and Michelle Alexander, to Jesmyn Ward and Stephen King. More than anything, I am thrilled that this further trains a light on the Great Migration, on the courage of the six million souls who acted upon their dreams and on the indelible mark this leaderless movement left on this country and the world. Here are but a few of the children of the Great Migration who reshaped an entire sphere of our society — the music we listen to. Jazz, Motown, R&B, Hip-Hop and the Blues (which inspired rock ‘n’ roll) are quintessentially American creations that grew out of the transfer of black culture from the South to the North during the Great Migration. Many household names — like Diana Ross (AL to Detroit) and Prince (LA to Minneapolis) — might not have existed had their parents not fled Jim Crow and married people they would otherwise not have met. Some artists, like Muddy Waters (MS to Chicago), left the South themselves. Others went north with their parents — like Ella Fitzgerald (VA to Yonkers, NY), Thelonious Monk (NC to NYC), Aretha Franklin (TN to Detroit), and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (AL to Detroit), whose 1964 song “Dancing in the Street” became an anthem of the Great Migration. It infectiously celebrates the receiving stations of the Migration: “Philadelphia, P-A….Baltimore and D-C now…. Can’t forget the Motor City….” It is hard, and it is humbling, to even try to imagine a world without their having graced this planet. Grateful to the Los Angeles Times for including the book on this list and to every single reader of The Warmth of Other Suns.
Ecstatic at the news that the Los Angeles Times has named The Warmth of Other Suns to its list of the 30 Best Nonfiction Books of the Last 30 Years, ranking it No. 1. Honored to be in the company of so many authors whose work I have admired — from Joan Didion and Ta-Nehisi Coates, to Erik Larson and Michelle Alexander, to Jesmyn Ward and Stephen King. More than anything, I am thrilled that this further trains a light on the Great Migration, on the courage of the six million souls who acted upon their dreams and on the indelible mark this leaderless movement left on this country and the world. Here are but a few of the children of the Great Migration who reshaped an entire sphere of our society — the music we listen to. Jazz, Motown, R&B, Hip-Hop and the Blues (which inspired rock ‘n’ roll) are quintessentially American creations that grew out of the transfer of black culture from the South to the North during the Great Migration. Many household names — like Diana Ross (AL to Detroit) and Prince (LA to Minneapolis) — might not have existed had their parents not fled Jim Crow and married people they would otherwise not have met. Some artists, like Muddy Waters (MS to Chicago), left the South themselves. Others went north with their parents — like Ella Fitzgerald (VA to Yonkers, NY), Thelonious Monk (NC to NYC), Aretha Franklin (TN to Detroit), and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (AL to Detroit), whose 1964 song “Dancing in the Street” became an anthem of the Great Migration. It infectiously celebrates the receiving stations of the Migration: “Philadelphia, P-A….Baltimore and D-C now…. Can’t forget the Motor City….” It is hard, and it is humbling, to even try to imagine a world without their having graced this planet. Grateful to the Los Angeles Times for including the book on this list and to every single reader of The Warmth of Other Suns.
Ecstatic at the news that the Los Angeles Times has named The Warmth of Other Suns to its list of the 30 Best Nonfiction Books of the Last 30 Years, ranking it No. 1. Honored to be in the company of so many authors whose work I have admired — from Joan Didion and Ta-Nehisi Coates, to Erik Larson and Michelle Alexander, to Jesmyn Ward and Stephen King. More than anything, I am thrilled that this further trains a light on the Great Migration, on the courage of the six million souls who acted upon their dreams and on the indelible mark this leaderless movement left on this country and the world. Here are but a few of the children of the Great Migration who reshaped an entire sphere of our society — the music we listen to. Jazz, Motown, R&B, Hip-Hop and the Blues (which inspired rock ‘n’ roll) are quintessentially American creations that grew out of the transfer of black culture from the South to the North during the Great Migration. Many household names — like Diana Ross (AL to Detroit) and Prince (LA to Minneapolis) — might not have existed had their parents not fled Jim Crow and married people they would otherwise not have met. Some artists, like Muddy Waters (MS to Chicago), left the South themselves. Others went north with their parents — like Ella Fitzgerald (VA to Yonkers, NY), Thelonious Monk (NC to NYC), Aretha Franklin (TN to Detroit), and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (AL to Detroit), whose 1964 song “Dancing in the Street” became an anthem of the Great Migration. It infectiously celebrates the receiving stations of the Migration: “Philadelphia, P-A….Baltimore and D-C now…. Can’t forget the Motor City….” It is hard, and it is humbling, to even try to imagine a world without their having graced this planet. Grateful to the Los Angeles Times for including the book on this list and to every single reader of The Warmth of Other Suns.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In this briefest of months, let us bask in the stirringly poignant ovation for one of the greatest sopranos of all time as she tries to absorb the magnitude of her audience’s embrace. Leontyne Price, the first African-American to reach international acclaim in the rarefied world of opera, turns 98 today. She was born in the depths of Jim Crow, in Laurel, Mississippi, on February 10, 1927, to James Price, a sawmill worker, and Katherine Price, a midwife. When she was five, her parents traded in a family phonograph as a down payment on an upright piano for her. When she was nine, she saw the pioneering soprano Marian Anderson in recital in Jackson, which fueled her desire to be a singer. During the Great Migration, she boarded a segregated bus from Mississippi to Ohio in 1944 to pursue her dreams at Central State College in Wilberforce. She was filled with anxiety about leaving her family but knew she had to go north to “carry out the plans she had carefully outlined for later in life.” There, she studied under Paul Robeson and won a scholarship to Juilliard and thus the chance to pursue opera. In 1955, she became the first African-American to appear on television as the lead in an opera when she performed in Puccini’s “Tosca.” Though the performance aired nationwide on NBC, several NBC affiliates canceled the broadcast in protest. She would go on to star in “Aida,” “Carmen,” “Madame Butterfly” and other lead roles. But it was her debut at the Metropolitan Opera (as Leonora in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”) on January 27, 1961, that ignited a 42-minute ovation, one of the longest in Met history. She would win 13 Grammy Awards for her recordings and appear on the cover of TIME. In 2007, a British magazine named her to its list of the 20 Best Sopranos of all time, ranking her fourth, after Maria Callas, Dame Joan Sutherland and Victoria de los Angeles. This clip is from her 1985 farewell performance at the Met, where she received such a rapturous standing ovation that she could barely contain her emotions as she tried to remain in character (as enslaved princess Aida dreaming of freedom). A powerful moment in music history.
A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that hearing room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Will be posting a reel shortly with her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that hearing room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Will be posting a reel shortly with her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that hearing room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Will be posting a reel shortly with her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
A singular honor to share the stage and sit in dialogue with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the intersection of the months when we honor both Black History and Women’s History. We gathered on the South Side of Chicago, before a crowd of 7,000 churchgoers to explore her groundbreaking journey to become the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a journey she recounts in her beautiful memoir, “Lovely One.” She spoke of growing up as a beloved daughter of whom much was expected, of the perseverance it took to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearings, of the timely words of comfort from Senator Cory Booker that reordered the tense air in that hearing room and of fulfilling a dream to both ascend to the Supreme Court and to perform on Broadway, which she recently had the chance to achieve. We were in the most famous receiving station of the Great Migration, and I was grateful to be able to thank her in person for citing The Warmth of Other Suns in her historic dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in this country. We spoke of what we can learn from the ancestors — like the time that she asked her grandmother why people assumed the worst stereotypes of black people. Young Ketanji had just had a hurtful experience while shopping at a store. This is how how grandmother encouraged her: “ ‘Oh, honey, those people have nothing to do with your life,’ Grandma said, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching for mine. ‘You are meant for greater things than they will ever imagine, so don’t let them trouble your heart.’ ” It was uplifting and magical, and as we neared the close of the evening, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing a favorite gospel song from her grandmother, something that the justice-to-be might have sung during her childhood in Florida. Will be posting a reel shortly with her electrifyingly gorgeous response at the end of a jubilant evening that none of us who were there will ever forget.
