More familiar references to the Picadilly, Ouachita River, and Desiard Street will take your mind to a Monroe from decades ago. Foster is there in the 1930s to witness the construction of a then state-of-the-art Neville High School that would remain closed to Black students until the 1970s. We learn how Black teenagers in Monroe would watch Hollywood films in the segregated balcony of the movie theater. Foster - a talented surgeon born a hundred years ago in 1919, and raised in Monroe.

Wilkerson weaves in the works of Black poets, authors, and artists of this era, as well as establishes the motivation for the massive 6 million Black Americans who would relocate to northern cities during this period.īesides being an important work and a national bestseller, the draw for Louisiana residents will certainly be to learn about one of the three featured: Dr. Not only does this book thoroughly document the challenging experiences of these three individuals, it does a great job of putting the greater movement into perspective. “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” is a historical study of the lives of these three Black people who become participants in what is now referred to as the Great Migration of southern Blacks to the north during the decades between 1915-1970. You’ll soon be caught up in the story of three special (yet typical) southerners and their life-changing journeys: Ida Mae Gladney, George Starling, and Dr. Learn why he fled the south, and how his story shapes up compared to two other participants in The Great Migration.ĭon’t let the thickness of this Pulitzer Prizewinner scare you. A historical study written ten years ago? YES! This famous surgeon is originally from Monroe, Louisiana.

Under the warmth of other suns