Isabel Wilkerson’s award-winning book, The Warmth of Other Suns traces the history of three African Americans from the U.S. South–Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, who left Mississippi in the 1930s; George Swanson Starling who left Florida in the 1950s; and Robert Joseph Pershing Foster who left Louisiana in the 1950s–who migrated during The Great Migration (1910-1970), a historical period in which over 6 million African Americans fled the violent South for Northern (and Western) cities.
During this three-part collaboration between Read & Run Chicago and the LYD Foundation, we’ll focus on the story of Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, a Mississippi-born woman who leaves Chickasaw County Mississippi in late October 1937 and eventually lands in Bronzeville, Chicago. Splitting Wilkerson’s book into three sections, runners should read the indicated sections in each registration link prior to the run. Part 1’s discussion focuses on Ida Mae’s life in Mississippi and the circumstances that prompted her to leave; during Part 2 we’ll read and focus on 1940s Bronzeville that Ida Mae arrived to; and finally, during Part 3, we’ll discuss the aftermath and impact of the Great Migration using Ida Mae’s story as our guide.
Part Three takes us from South Shore to Woodlawn, where we’ll run through the neighborhood Ida Mae found a long term home in and raised her children and grandchildren in after bouncing around in Bronzeville for several decades. We’ll discuss the changes she witnessed in this neighborhood and finish with a discussion at a senior citizen center with people who lived through the Great Migration.
Participation for each of the events is on a pay-what-you-can sliding scale. If you benefit from generational privilege, are employed, and/or have the means to do so, we encourage a minimum donation of $20. All proceeds collected from these three events will fundraise for the LYD Foundation’s youth mentoring, community development, and food insecurity initiatives.