Isabel Wilkerson Discussion

On November 14th, I went to hear Isabel Wilkerson speak in Crampton Auditorium. Hearing her speak, helped me place into context many of the feelings and situations that occurred in The Warmth of Other Suns. She told us how she a long, uncomfortable journey with her parents, mirroring that of another person in her book. She used this example to further illustrate the desperation people felt in trying to get out of the South. She also talked about how the Migration drastically changed history. Without it, many our parents wouldn't have met. She even went so far as to say that Michael Jackson and events such as the Harlem Renaissance would be nonexistant had it not been for the Great Migration.

Wilkerson brought up what I believed to be a very interesting fact. Many people believed black people were lynched when a white woman would lie about being raped or for trying to steal to survive. This was, however, not the case for the majority of black lynchings and beatings. Apparently, the number one thing to get black people lynched was the accusation of "acting white", something that could imply anything. She gave the example of how a man was severely beaten for asking for the receipt of a water bill that he had just payed.

Princess Jenkins-Simlin