Author chosen for CRP shares stories of 'Warmth'

The author of the Community Reading Project said the book she wrote was the "greatest underreported story of the 20th century."

Isabel Wilkerson said it took her 15 years to write "The Warmth of Other Suns." She spoke to a capacity crowd in the Kirkhof Center March 14, following a visit to Herrick District Library in Holland the previous day.

Wilkerson interviewed 1,200 people for the book, which traces the migration of African Americans from the South to other parts of the country in search for better lives. She said it was difficult getting people to open up to her and relive their experiences under Jim Crow laws of the South.

“It’s so painful for them, they often didn’t tell their own children and grandchildren about it,” she said.

The three main people profiled in Warmth of Other Suns migrated to the East Coast, Midwest and California. They represented the migration paths of 6 million other African Americans who left the South.

“This migration was different because it was the only time the lowest caste of people were forced to leave to go to another region of the country to be recognized as citizens,” she said.

Veta Tucker, associate professor of English and director of the Kutsche Office of Local History, introduced Wilkerson and called her book a “game-changer.”

“It’s changing our perspective of ourselves as African Americans,” Tucker said.

Wilkerson asked the audience if they would have left their homes under similar conditions. “We have the honor and duty to make their sacrifices mean something today,” she said.