The Historic Impact of the Great Migration in the Book the Warmth of Other Suns

History is dotted with stories of communities who were forced by people or circumstances to migrate from the land that they inhabited and move to a new place. One such occurrence, a historical event, is The Great Migration as told by Isabel Wilkerson in the book The Warmth of Other Suns. In her book, Wilkerson narrates the exodus of millions of African Americans from the Southern States of the U.S to the North, East and West U.S cities in pursuit of freedom and better living conditions. According to Wilkerson, the African American population in the Southern states had faced a significant challenge as they were subjected to oppression, subservience, inequality, and racism. The oppression of the African Americans in the Southern states made them begin escaping to the North where they hoped to find more job opportunities, less abuse, and better living conditions. The millions of migrants who escaped to the North would, however, realize that life there was not much different from their life in the South. Some of the problems that made these populations escape from the South American towns persist to the present day and include racial discrimination and migration for labor.

The end of the American civil war heralded the end of slavery, which was rampant in the South. Consequently, the white ruling class, in an attempt to maintain a superior status than the colored people, legislated Jim Crow. The Jim Crow was a set of laws that banned all social integration of members of the black population with the whites. The new laws introduced separate streetcars, different library sections for different races, and even separate Bibles for use in courthouses. The Jim Crow spread from Georgia into all the states in the South and has been cited as the cause for the high migration. Between 1891 and the 1960's more than six million

African Americans had moved from the South to the North, West and East cities of Chicago, Network, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Upon migrating to the North, the African Americans faced multiple challenges including lack of shelter, poor working conditions and a rise in xenophobic attacks by the resident populations. Initially, the number of new migrants was low but increased from 1910 to 1920. The black population of Philadelphia rose more than fivefold; Detroit saw a six-fold rise, New York, and Chicago had a 66% and 148% increase respectively. Similarly, the number of black workers in these cities increased significantly. Most of the migrant workers would invite their families from down South to join them leading to the significant rise in black population in the Northern cities.

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The rise in the population in the cities caused a strain on the social amenities that were available. The black migrants competed for the available job vacancies with the white residents. The competition resulted in a reduction of the wages offered by the employers. Additionally, there was a shortage of appropriate housing and most of the migrants had to live in substandard shacks. The poor living conditions and the unavailability of affordable health services led to serious health complications for the black population. The black population had fled from harsh living conditions in the South and ended up facing even greater health challenges in the North. The poor health services, combined with poor living conditions and long working hours resulted in many deaths of the black migrants. As more migrants moved to the North, house rent continued to rise and became unaffordable for many blacks.

In conclusion, Wilkerson manages to demonstrate that the Great Migration had significant social, economic and political impact on the whole of the U.S despite its limited coverage by the historians. The stories of George, Mae, and Foster also indicate that the migrants achieved different fortunes in the North, some were successful, some failed and yet others just scraped through their lives. The book is a comprehensive representation of the Great Migration and the effects it had on both the migrants and the resident communities. Based on the milestone political achievements of the black population due to the Great Migration their geopolitical influence can be expected to rise further. The US is a global superpower that affects economic

and political decisions in many of the world's countries. An increased global political and social influence by the African Americans can be expected as they attain a higher political status in the U.S. Similarly, the increase in the population of the African Americans leads to their occupation of influential military career positions. Considering the rising influence of the black community, and the U.S having already elected a black president, the world might also get its first black pope soon.

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