Five years ago today, with the world on lockdown and political upheaval here at home, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents came onto the public stage and managed to find a way into your hearts. It has been the honor of a lifetime to see my second-born book embraced so widely by you. On this day, no bookstores or libraries were open. You found the book anyway, in part because it helped to explain what had defied explanation, training a searchlight on the ruptures we have inherited as a nation. It seemed that, after a decade of research, this was the exact moment it was intended to come into the world. You, the readers, kept it on The New York Times bestsellers list for a total of 79 weeks in hardcover and paperback, making it No. 1 in Nov. 2020. Thank you to every person who turned the pages of this book, who posted on social, who waited on library holds, who read it for book club, gave it to friends, family and co-workers and allowed this history to shape how you see the world. Thank you for recognizing that caste is not theoretical, but is, in fact, built into the foundation of our country. It is playing out before our eyes as we observe divisions that strain comprehension until you look at the x-ray that caste provides us. As many of you have said, once you see it, you can’t unsee it. It took decades of synthesis to produce Caste. I did not merely research it as a concept, I inhaled and inhabited it. The book was both historical excavation and prophecy, and so much of what was contained within its pages has heartbreakingly come to pass. Anyone who has read Caste likely already knows why things around us are unfolding as they are. There could be no more urgent a time to understand the origins of our discontents as we seek to find ways to move forward. The message of Caste is about love more than anything — love within oneself to emanate to the rest of our species, no matter the rung and role society casts us in. I am more certain than ever, that, if our species could find a way to transcend these manufactured divisions, a world without caste would set everyone free. —— Scroll to the end to see a few of the “pinch me” moments in the rollout of this book.
Five years ago today, with the world on lockdown and political upheaval here at home, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents came onto the public stage and managed to find a way into your hearts. It has been the honor of a lifetime to see my second-born book embraced so widely by you. On this day, no bookstores or libraries were open. You found the book anyway, in part because it helped to explain what had defied explanation, training a searchlight on the ruptures we have inherited as a nation. It seemed that, after a decade of research, this was the exact moment it was intended to come into the world. You, the readers, kept it on The New York Times bestsellers list for a total of 79 weeks in hardcover and paperback, making it No. 1 in Nov. 2020. Thank you to every person who turned the pages of this book, who posted on social, who waited on library holds, who read it for book club, gave it to friends, family and co-workers and allowed this history to shape how you see the world. Thank you for recognizing that caste is not theoretical, but is, in fact, built into the foundation of our country. It is playing out before our eyes as we observe divisions that strain comprehension until you look at the x-ray that caste provides us. As many of you have said, once you see it, you can’t unsee it. It took decades of synthesis to produce Caste. I did not merely research it as a concept, I inhaled and inhabited it. The book was both historical excavation and prophecy, and so much of what was contained within its pages has heartbreakingly come to pass. Anyone who has read Caste likely already knows why things around us are unfolding as they are. There could be no more urgent a time to understand the origins of our discontents as we seek to find ways to move forward. The message of Caste is about love more than anything — love within oneself to emanate to the rest of our species, no matter the rung and role society casts us in. I am more certain than ever, that, if our species could find a way to transcend these manufactured divisions, a world without caste would set everyone free. —— Scroll to the end to see a few of the “pinch me” moments in the rollout of this book.
Five years ago today, with the world on lockdown and political upheaval here at home, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents came onto the public stage and managed to find a way into your hearts. It has been the honor of a lifetime to see my second-born book embraced so widely by you. On this day, no bookstores or libraries were open. You found the book anyway, in part because it helped to explain what had defied explanation, training a searchlight on the ruptures we have inherited as a nation. It seemed that, after a decade of research, this was the exact moment it was intended to come into the world. You, the readers, kept it on The New York Times bestsellers list for a total of 79 weeks in hardcover and paperback, making it No. 1 in Nov. 2020. Thank you to every person who turned the pages of this book, who posted on social, who waited on library holds, who read it for book club, gave it to friends, family and co-workers and allowed this history to shape how you see the world. Thank you for recognizing that caste is not theoretical, but is, in fact, built into the foundation of our country. It is playing out before our eyes as we observe divisions that strain comprehension until you look at the x-ray that caste provides us. As many of you have said, once you see it, you can’t unsee it. It took decades of synthesis to produce Caste. I did not merely research it as a concept, I inhaled and inhabited it. The book was both historical excavation and prophecy, and so much of what was contained within its pages has heartbreakingly come to pass. Anyone who has read Caste likely already knows why things around us are unfolding as they are. There could be no more urgent a time to understand the origins of our discontents as we seek to find ways to move forward. The message of Caste is about love more than anything — love within oneself to emanate to the rest of our species, no matter the rung and role society casts us in. I am more certain than ever, that, if our species could find a way to transcend these manufactured divisions, a world without caste would set everyone free. —— Scroll to the end to see a few of the “pinch me” moments in the rollout of this book.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
It was 15 years ago today that The Warmth of Other Suns came into the world — telling the story of the six million souls who fled the Jim Crow South, who crossed rivers and mountains to get to what they hoped would be freedom in the rest of the country, transforming American culture as we know it. It was a singular offering that cannot truly be repeated. It took 15 years of immersion to produce it, over 1,200 interviews, North, South, East and West, and sacrifices that I am still calculating. It was a karmic undertaking, given that those generations were up in years when I began, and now the vast majority are no longer with us. I started working on it 30 years ago, before Google and iPhones existed. I threw myself into the project with no guarantee of success, entering the lives of hundreds of informants as a complete stranger and ended up so close that I spoke at one of their funerals. It was the honor of a lifetime to bear witness to the survivors of the largest mass movement in American history, and, especially, to get to know Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling and Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster. I am forever grateful to everyone who embraced this book and this quest to turn a footnote of history into the central chapter it deserved to be and one of the most inspiring stories in American history. Its legacy endures. Of the African-Americans who shaped 20th Century culture, many were either part of the Migration or descended from it — Malcolm X, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Lorraine Hansberry, Diana Ross, Bill Russell, August Wilson, Prince, Tupac, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, so many more…. The Great Migration was a leaderless revolution, and nothing in this world could stop it. It is a testament to the power of human will, to the impact of a single decision, to the transformation that is possible when enough people of one mind act upon their intuition. Shortly after the book’s release, a man I knew only in passing got ahold of it. He pulled me aside one day to tell me this: “The most important readers of this book,” he said, “have not yet been born.” My deepest, truest gratitude to every single one of you.
Everything, all around us, in every direction, is the resurgence of caste. It will take a strength and unity such as we’ve never known in our lifetimes to transcend the 21st Century replay of history.
Everything, all around us, in every direction, is the resurgence of caste. It will take a strength and unity such as we’ve never known in our lifetimes to transcend the 21st Century replay of history.
Everything, all around us, in every direction, is the resurgence of caste. It will take a strength and unity such as we’ve never known in our lifetimes to transcend the 21st Century replay of history.
Everything, all around us, in every direction, is the resurgence of caste. It will take a strength and unity such as we’ve never known in our lifetimes to transcend the 21st Century replay of history.
Everything, all around us, in every direction, is the resurgence of caste. It will take a strength and unity such as we’ve never known in our lifetimes to transcend the 21st Century replay of history.
Everything, all around us, in every direction, is the resurgence of caste. It will take a strength and unity such as we’ve never known in our lifetimes to transcend the 21st Century replay of history.
Everything, all around us, in every direction, is the resurgence of caste. It will take a strength and unity such as we’ve never known in our lifetimes to transcend the 21st Century replay of history.
