Revisiting Isabel Wilkerson, Author and 2015 National Humanities Medalist

In honor of Black History month, we’re revisiting this 2011 conversation with author and 2015 National Humanities Medalist Isabel Wilkerson  In this tuneful podcast, Wilkerson discusses her acclaimed book “The Warmth of Other Suns,”  exploring the profound impact of the Great Migration on American culture. This migration saw six million African Americans relocate from the rural South to the urban North from post-WWI through the 1960s, drastically transforming the country’s demographic landscape and cultural output. Wilkerson describes it as a defection from the oppressive Jim Crow laws of the South to the more welcoming, yet challenging environments of the North. This movement was not merely a migration but a quest for political asylum; people were seeking opportunities and freedoms that were systematically denied in the South.  As Wilkerson discusses, one result of the Migration was  a profound merging of cultures, impacting every form of American art – literature, music, theater, and visual arts. Figures like Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, and artists like Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence were deeply influenced by their migration experiences, fundamentally altering American culture. She points out that the Great Migration had a monumental impact on music, bringing Southern blues, jazz, gospel, and later, Motown sounds to a national audience. Icons like BB King, Muddy Waters, Louis Armstrong, and companies like Motown Records owe their success and influence to this movement, which also facilitated a cross-cultural exchange that reverberated globally. She argues that music at times served as a bridge, bringing together segregated communities, Black and white, urban and rural, and introducing diverse audiences to the rich and varied cultural expressions of African Americans. Wilkerson also shares her personal connection to the Great Migration, being the daughter of migrants herself. She reflects on how this history shaped her identity, the broader narrative of African Americans in the 20th century, and the nation’s art, music, and societal structures.

For a transcript, click here