48 pages • 1 hour read
Isabel WilkersonThe Warmth Of Other Suns
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaEssay Topics
Which of the book’s three central figures was the greatest success? In what ways did they succeed? How did the fail?
Compare and contrast the ways in which the North and the South limited the freedoms of African-Americans during the era of the Great Migration.
Southern African-Americans debated whether to work for change in the South or leave to build lives in the North. What are the pros and cons of both approaches?
Why was it so important both for the African-Americans returning to the South and those living in the North and West to showcase their material successes?
Discuss the generational divide between migrants and their offspring. What cultural differences formed this generational rift? Why?
Discuss the importance of the church for migrants. Did viewing the North as the Biblical “Promised Land” help or hurt migrants? Why?
Names are so important to the African-American community that two of the characters change their names. Why are names so significant?
Discuss some of the rifts and rivalries within the African-American community. What are their causes?
Wilkerson argues that Southern migrants did not cause the decline of Northern cities. Discuss her alternate theory. Were Southern migrants a boon to Northern communities? How and why?
The migration of African-Americans from the South had an unmistakable impact on American culture. What elements of Southern black culture became mainstream? Who are some of the figures that later came to prominence and how did they affect American popular culture?
