February is Black History Month, and to celebrate Drop the I-Word and BAJI, are partnering and invite members of our communities to join us as we read Isabel Wilkerson's monumental book, The Warmth of Other Suns.
The
book, newly available in paperback, chronicles the Great Migration, in
which some six million black people migrated to cities in the north and
west from the south's Jim Crow caste system between 1915 and 1970.
Current
anti-immigrant rhetoric hinges upon dividing communities of color and
explicitly pitting African Americans with roots in the south, against
migrants today. It's important that we build bridges and continue to
foster respect and knowledge about one another's experiences.
How to join in:
- Buy The Warmth of Other Suns on Amazon or Indiebound for yourself and as a gift for loved ones.
- Download the Discussion Guide for great topics and thought-provoking questions.
- Like our Facebook page, where we'll be asking questions and guiding a discussion about the book.
- Visit the Drop the I-Word blog each Wednesday in February to join in the conversation on key questions about the book.
About her book, The Warmth of Other Suns, Ms. Wilkerson told Colorlines.com:
"This book is not just about black people leaving the South, it's about the yearning of anybody who wants to make a life-altering change for something better, for which there's no guarantee of the outcome. I'm hoping that if nothing else, people take that from this book--that they will see that we're all, in this case, Americans seeking the American dream, and African Americans are no different from that. They all shared the desire, when they were participants in the Great Migration, of the immigrant heart--of someone leaving the only place they've ever known, for a place they've never seen, with no guarantees."
