Whittie News - May 2012

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson

Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends:

Each year we invite incoming students and the Walla Walla community to read a common and compelling book, participate in a panel of Whitman faculty discussing the reading from the perspectives of their disciplines, and attend a lecture by the author. The reading selection for Whitman’s class of 2016 is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Migration, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson.

The book chronicles the decades-long migration of African Americans who fled the tyranny of the Jim Crow South for northern and western cities in search of better lives. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people, often termed the “Great Migration,” changed the cultural and political landscape of America. Wilkerson portrays a vivid account of the period, of the change in northern cities, of the music and culture that developed, and of the long-lasting consequences of this major demographic shift in American society.

Isabel Wilkerson spent most of her career as a national correspondent and bureau chief at The New York Times. She is the first African American woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and was the first African American to win for individual reporting. Inspired by her own parents’ migration, she devoted 15 years to the research and writing of The Warmth of Other Suns. The book became a New York Times best-seller and went on to win many awards, including the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and the NAACP Image Award for Best Literary Debut.

On August 25, there will be a faculty panel presentation that will explore key themes and issues from Wilkerson’s book from the perspectives of different disciplines. And on October 1, the author will join us on campus to deliver a lecture and share personal anecdotes from her experience researching and writing the book. Later in the semester, Stewart Tolnay, a demographer and leading scholar on the Great Migration and upon whose research much of Wilkerson’s book is based will deliver a lecture and meet with students. Throughout the fall there will be guest lectures, concerts, and art projects reflecting major themes from The Warmth of Other Suns.

Thank you to all for your support as we prepare for the Class of 2016.

Sincerely,

George Bridges, President