Summer Reading

One of Whitman’s many revered academic traditions is the Summer Read Program, in which a reading selection is assigned to all new first-year students. This selection provides a platform for intellectual discussion and debate for the college’s newest students, but also for bonding as the initial discussions take place during Orientation Week.  Whitman also invites the wider community to participate by reading the selection and attending the author’s lecture later in the fall.

The 2012 Summer Read Program book selection is "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson, which chronicles an important period in American history: the decades-long Great Migration of nearly six million black citizens fleeing the South from 1915-1970 in search of better opportunities.

Inspired by “The Warmth of Other Suns,” the following events will take place on campus in the weeks ahead and will shed important light on the Great Migration from different intellectual perspectives.  All events are free and open to the public.

An Evening with Isabel Wilkerson

7:00 p.m. Monday, October 1 in Cordiner Hall
Moderated by Helen Kim, Associate Professor of Sociology

The Summer Read Program author of “The Warmth of Other Suns” will address key themes from her book, including migration, social justice, and urban affairs caused by and resulting from The Great Migration. A Q&A discussion and book signing will follow.

Books are available for purchase at the event and at the Whitman College Bookstore.

From Delta Blues to Chicago Blues: The Great Migration of American Music

Mac Arnold, Southern Blues Musician
7:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 10 in Chism Recital Hall

Mac Arnold is one of our country's great Blues musicians. He joins Whitman to lead a master class, playing with Whitman faculty and our students as he describes the evolution of Blues music throughout the country. He has played and toured with James Brown, Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, John Lee Hooker, Otis Redding and B.B. King. He also introduced blues and soul music to television audiences when he produced “Soul Train” with his friend Don Cornelius.

The Great Migration from a Demographic Perspective: How and Why the Diaspora Occurred

Stewart Tolnay, S. Frank Miyamoto Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington.
7:00 p.m. Monday, October 22 in Olin 130

Lead author of social science research cited by and incorporated into Wilkerson's analysis of the Great Migration, Stewart Tolnay has written and spoken extensively on the Jim Crow South, the horrors of lynching, and the forces that triggered the African-Americans diaspora in the early 20th century. He is a widely-recognized sociologist and demographer with a national reputation as one of a very few leading scholars with expertise on social movements and Southern violence.

Learn more about the Summer Read Program at Fall Orientation.