The subtitle is “The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration”, which feels appropriate. This book is a survey of 60-ish years of American history, as well as a complete biography of three Black Americans who are emblematic of various facets of the era. Wilkerson bites off a lot, but manages to chew it at least to my satisfaction. There are a lot of facts here that I “knew” about the Jim Crow south in the sense of covering it for a bit in high school or reading a Wikipedia page, but hearing it from those who lived it gave me a valuable depth of understanding. Our three protagonists are drawn with all their flaws and challenges, but with the kindness and respect that comes from many hours of deep research and careful listening. Having lived in St Paul and spent a lot of time in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Los Angeles, etc., this history also enlightens the present of many great and complicated American cities.

George, Ida Mae, and Robert all have some great anecdotes and various brushes with fame and history, but being such a cool doctor that Ray Charles drops your name in a tune is pretty fuckin' boss. An honest description of a day of truly hard manual labor offers me the useful reflection that I’ve never had even a single day of that kind of work in my life. Of course there are many parts of the Jim Crow era that feel shameful and deplorable, but good god, the sheer waste of human potential - how many potential healers, inventors, visionaries, leaders, etc. are lost to humanity because they are born on the wrong side of a caste system? One hopes that even if slow, kicking, and screaming, we eventually learn from our mistakes