Katy O.’s Comments (group member since Jan 22, 2019)

Katy O.’s comments from the Bookstagram Buddy Read - THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS group.

Completely agree with that, Krista!

Oh my goodness. This book is AMAZING! Every page I turn is teaching me new information and I'm simultaneously amazed and appalled at how much I didn't know before reading this text.

I'm not sure if I'm unique in this aspect, but the only times I have ever encountered the word "caste" was in the numerous texts I have read about societal structures in India. Reading it here makes me understand just how relevant and appropriate it is in the US too - it really cements for me the multi-generational impacts of slavery and how systemic the racial divides are.

Regarding which character I connect with the most, I think I definitely relate to Pershing the most. I too grew up the child of educators, and I so relate to the feelings of being in the public eye because of this in a small town.

I have more to say, but I'll wait and chime in as replies to others!

Here are some discussion questions to consider when pondering this week's reading! Feel free to use these or write about whatever you'd like about this section :-)

1) Which of our 3 figures, Ida Mae, George or Bob/Robert/Pershing seemed to adapt best to their new homes? Why do you think that is?

2) The challenges all of these families faced in their new homes were large and unexpected. Southerners were used to hearing of the joys of the North - why do you think the migrants before them didn't pass this information on, especially given how unwelcome the new migrants were?

3) How did this section reshape your understanding of aspects of US History?

4) How was the reception to the new migrants in this section similar to the reception of migrants in more recent migrations both in the United States and abroad?

Here are some discussion questions to consider while you are responding to your reading from the week! Of course, you can also write whatever else you want or not use the questions :-)

1) How does the information about the three main tributaries of the Great Migration reshape your knowledge of your own state/city's history?

2) Our three main figures in the book, Ida Mae, George, and Robert (Pershing) all describe clearly the incident or circumstance that crystalized their decision to flee the South. Thinking about these, which, if any, resonated most with you?

3) This book, as a whole, rewrites American history as it is often taught in history books and schools - in this section, is there any information that made you rethink what you were taught or thought you already knew?

4) As Robert traveled to California, he learned that Jim Crow didn't exactly end abruptly at the border as he thought it would. Consider and discuss the qualities and privilege he possessed that allowed him to prevail despite these setbacks.

Krista - I love the mix of history and personal narratives as well! It makes this such a fast read for such a huge book!

Erica - our weeks are Monday - Sunday :-) Feel free to read at your own pace if needed! I have schedules you can screenshot on my Instagram at @kate.olson.reads if that helps!

Here are additional questions to ponder while or after reading - reposting from the author's website.

CAUTION - there may be some spoilers in the questions and thread, only read the questions/thread before finishing the book if you are okay with that!

1. The Warmth of Other Suns combines a sweeping historical perspective with vivid intimate portraits of three individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, George Swanson Starling, and Robert Pershing Foster. What is the value of this dual focus, of shifting between the panoramic and the close-up? In what ways are Ida Mae Gladney, George Starling, and Robert Foster representative of the millions of other migrants who journeyed from South to North?

2. In many ways The Warmth of Other Suns seeks to tell a new story—about the Great Migration of southern blacks to the north—and to set the record straight about the true significance of that migration. What are the most surprising revelations in the book? What misconceptions does Wilkerson dispel?

3. What were the major economic, social, and historical forces that sparked the Great Migration? Why did blacks leave in such great numbers from 1915 to 1970?

4. What were the most horrifying conditions of Jim Crow South? What instances of racial terrorism stand out most strongly in the book? What daily injustices and humiliations did blacks have to face there?

5. In what ways was the Great Migration of southern blacks similar to other historical migrations? In what important ways was it unique?

6. After being viciously attacked by a mob in Cicero, a suburb of Chicago, Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “I have seen many demonstrations in the South, but I have never seen anything so hostile and so hateful as I’ve seen here today” (p. 389). Why were northern working-class whites so hostile to black migrants?

7. Wilkerson quotes Black Boy in which Richard Wright wrote, on arriving in the North: “I had fled one insecurity and embraced another” (p. 242). What unique challenges did black migrants face in the North? How did these challenges affect the lives of Ida Mae Gladney, George Starling, and Robert Foster?

8. Wilkerson points out that the three most influential figures in jazz were all children of the Great Migration: Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane. What would American culture look like today if the Great Migration hadn’t happened?

9. What motivated Ida Mae Gladney, George Starling, and Robert Foster to leave the South? What circumstances and inner drives prompted them to undertake such a difficult and dangerous journey? What would likely have been their fates if they had remained in the South? In what ways did living in the North free them?

10. Near the end of the book, Wilkerson asks: “With all that grew out of the mass movement of people, did the Great Migration achieve the aim of those who willed it? Were the people who left the South—and their families—better off for having done so? Was the loss of what they left behind worth what confronted them in the anonymous cities they fled to?” (p. 528). How does Wilkerson answer these questions?

11. How did the Great Migration change not only the North but also the South? How did the South respond to the mass exodus of cheap black labor?

12. In what ways are current attitudes toward Mexican Americans similar to attitudes toward African Americans expressed by Northerners in The Warmth of Other Suns? For example, the ways working-class Northerners felt that Southern blacks were stealing their jobs.

13. At a neighborhood watch meeting in Chicago’s South Shore, Ida Mae listens to a young state senator named Barack Obama. In what ways is Obama’s presidency a indirect result of the Great Migration?

14. What is the value of Wilkerson basing her research primarily on firsthand, eyewitness accounts, gathered through extensive interviews, of this historical period?

15. Wilkerson writes of her three subjects that “Ida Mae Gladney had the humblest trappings but was perhaps the richest of them all. She had lived the hardest life, been given the least education, seen the worst the South could hurl at her people, and did not let it break her . . . . Her success was spiritual, perhaps the hardest of all to achieve. And because of that, she was the happiest and lived the longest of them all” (p. 532). What attributes allowed Ida Mae Gladney to achieve this happiness and longevity? In what sense might her life, and the lives of George Starling and Robert Foster as well, serve as models for how to persevere and overcome tremendous difficulties?

Hi everyone!

Here are a few questions to think about when discussing this section. You can of course write about anything you want, but if you want some guidance please feel free to use these! There are also some questions in a different thread you can consider as well.

1) The author uses the term "caste system" throughout the book, something that is not always done in the United States when talking about race. What is your experience with this terminology?

2) What are some of the facts about race relations and the Jim Crow south that are new or surprising to you? Are the facts in the book so far different from what you learned in history classes or other books you have read?

3) In these first chapters, you are introduced to the main players in the book. Which of the three have you connected with the most?

Ida Mae Brandon Gladney
George Swanson Starling
Robert Joseph Pershing Foster

4) What are some of the quotes that hit you the hardest from this section of the book?

If you have suggestions for more questions, please do message me here or on Instagram @kate.olson.reads

Hi all! I’m so excited so many of you are joining us!

I’m a school librarian who would like nothing better than to curl up with a book and bowl of popcorn all day, every. single. day. Oh, and I have 3 kids, 2 dogs, 2 fish and a hedgehog

I’m @kate.olson.reads on Instagram and look forward to reading with all of you!