1-11-11: Finding a New Sun

And more of the conversation:

Journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson is the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism.   She recently authored a sweeping account of the migration of African Americans from the Jim Crow south to cities in the north, midwest, and west.   It’s called The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.

It is indeed, an epic story. Between the first world war and the 1970s, almost 6 million people left the south, forever changing the social, political and economic landscape of the United States.  

Isabel Wilkerson will be appearing at the Enoch Pratt Central Library on Wednesday, January 12, at 7pm.  She’ll have a conversation with Sherrillyn Ifill, the noted civil rights lawyer and professor at the University of Maryland law school.  It’s part of a continuing series called “Talking About Race,” produced by the Pratt and the Open Society Institute.

You can listen to more of Tom’s conversation with Isabel Wilkerson here:

You can also check out Maryland Morning’s collection of  personal stories about race in a series called “Across the Divide.”

We also want to hear from you:  were you a part of the Great Migration, or know someone who was?  Did you move to Maryland from the South between 1910 and 1970?  Let us know at 410-881-3162, leave a comment below, or email us at mdmorning@wypr.org.

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