Rays of Black History Under The Sun

I was raised in Columbus, Ohio by two highly educated parents. Yet, it wasn’t until recent years that I realized how woefully unaware I was of my racial history.   

Back in 2000, a girlfriend of mine who happened to be white girlfriend brought this to my awareness. During a dinner conversation one evening, she had the audacity to state that I was “out of touch with the historical past of my people.” Feeling offended, I angrily denounced her statement as mean spirited and silly.

Today, I am embarrassed to admit that at the time she was probably right. Sadly, it wasn’t until I was in my 50’s that I began to develop a fervent curiosity and interest in the Black experience and my ancestral past.

In 2016 I met an urbane, sophisticated, intellectual brotha by the name Paul Ross. Because of our shared interest in books, we immediately hit it off. Whenever we randomly crossed paths in Denver’s Cherry Creek North District, he always had a ton of book recommendations to weigh me down with, many of which in te black history genre.

There’s one book recommendation of his above all others that continues to have a significant impact on my life. Entitled The Warmth of Other Suns, this well-researched non-fiction masterpiece by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson unearths one of the greatest, esoteric themes of American history: The “Great Migration” of Blacks who sought a better life by leaving the Jim Crow South.

These migrants were in search of what the novelist Richard Wright called “The Warmth of Other Suns,” the title of the book. This bestselling read brings to life the fascinating stories of three people who offer a historical context for this time-period:

Ida Mae Gladney, a Mississippi sharecropper who left for Chicago in 1937 after the brutal beating of her husband’s cousin. Because African-Americans faced major barriers to relocation, she and her children devised an escape plan which involved meeting her husband at a train depot so they could head north as a family.

George Swanson Starling, a Florida fruit picker who attempted to advocate for better pay for his fellow African-American workers in the fields. He barely escaped with his life in 1945, eventually ending up in Harlem, NY. This led to a career as a factory worker and then as a railroad porter — where he continued to be subjected to the ugly stain of racism.

Robert Joseph Pershing, a physician who after completing medical school in the 50s decided to leave Louisiana for what he thought would be a better life in California. Along the way, however, he found an unwelcoming environment for Black Americans at the hotels he sought to stay at on his journey West. Despite having a bachelor’s and medical degree, he was routinely denied privileges at white hospitals in California.

Many of Wilkerson’s stories about U.S. racial tensions were hard to fathom and frequently brought tears to my eyes. One of the reasons though I was inspired to keep reading was that the “Great Migration” likely fueled my grandparent’s relocation from Union Springs, Alabama northward to Chicago and Columbus, Ohio.

I also thought about my Mom and what her experiences might have been like growing up in Richmond, Virginia, the seat of the Confederacy. She was a proud graduate of Virginia Union University, one of several historically black colleges that were established to provide African-Americans educational opportunities unavailable to them elsewhere.

In reading Warmth of Other Suns, I felt a sentiment similar to one Amazon reviewer who remarked:

“You’re Cheating Yourself If You Don’t Read This Book.”

I share this sentiment. Quick story — A few years ago, I recommended the book to Russell Owens, a successful businessman and business coach in Denver and someone I’ve long admired for his deep insights and wisdom about life. It was a pleasant surprise for me to hear that pleasantly surprised when he not only purchased it but read it in his entirety.

And his response after having read it….. well it was priceless. Mouth agape as he walked through the door of Denver’s infamous Pablo’s Coffee to meet me one morning, he belted out something to the effect of:

 “Whoa! Man! I had no idea. The book, WOW!”

In the end, Warmth of Other Suns offers a broad context of an important, little talked about theme underpinning our nation’s history, the Great Black Migration. This is a critically important piece of work that every American should read if we hope to advance our racial future by acknowledging the uncomfortable past.