About the Program
Isabel Wilkerson presents a history of the Great Migration, when approximately six million African Americans migrated to northern and western locales from the South from 1915 to 1970. Ms. Wilkerson recounts the many reasons people had for leaving the South, the difficult travel that many incurred, and the geographical shift in population due to the migration. According to Ms. Wilkerson, 90% of African Americans lived in the South at the start of the 20th century, following the Great Migration, 47% of African Americans lived outside of the South. Isabel Wilkerson discusses her book at the Atlanta History Center. Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award for nonfiction.