Today, immigration is a hot-button issue. Many people have strong feelings about the borders of their countries and who should be allowed to cross them. But the story of the Great Migration isn’t an international story at all. In fact, it’s the story of an inner-border migration: the act of moving from one part of your own country to another. When one or two families do this, it is not noteworthy at all. Unlike an international move, which might prompt your friends and relatives to exclaim, “Why on earth are you doing that?!” an inner-border move is simply moving somewhere else. But when millions of families move to another part of their own country, this act becomes a migration rather than a simple move. And when the only people moving are people of a certain race, it becomes even more noteworthy.
Interestingly, however, the Great Migration is underrepresented in American history. One reason for this is the fact that it did not occur all at one time. After all, if more than six million families left from the same place at the same time, people would certainly have taken notice. Perhaps this migration would have made headlines in the same way that modern immigration issues dominate the news today. But instead, because the mass exodus occurred over a period of several years, this phenomenon received little news coverage in its own time. So, over the course of this summary, we’ll explore the history of the Great Migration and learn why more than six million Black Americans relocated to the Northern United States between 1915-1970.

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Book Club - The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson 

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Book Club - The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

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