2011 is one hundred years after the time that many of our ancestors first came to places like New York City, where I was born.  Some came from overseas, others came from the southern United States.  They didn’t think of themselves as pioneers in a historic movement of peoples who would re-shape the urban centers for decades to come.  But, that’s exactly what they did. 

One of two books that capture this historic movement is Isabel Wilkerson’s  The Warmth of Other Suns, a phenomenal, destined-to-become-classic of Grapes of Wrath proportions.  It’s a must-read for every African-American, and black or wihte immigrant from anywhere. 

There are many stereotypes about the hard-working, closely-knit-to-family, education-focused immigrant families; but, these images are rarely tied to people of the Black migrations from the U.S. South.  When migrants left the Jim Crow South, de facto segregation in the North and West  meant that they were restricted to living indistinguishably among other blacks who had been in those places a lot longer.  They were stereotyped by both blacks and whites alike, and a lot of misinformation was spread about them.  But, modern scholarship has shown that they were just like all other migrant or immigrant groups, who had left everything to relocate to a strange and alien place.  They had all the drive, ambition, sense of loss, determination to succeed, desire for education for the their children, that other immigrants tend to have.  Isabel Wilkerson provides the evidence, and does it through real-life stories of three black migrant families, one moving to New York City, one to Chicago, and one to Los Angeles.

Ms. Wilkerson’s book became an inspiring resource for me, as I worked on a new project, Stone of Help.  Part history, part memoir, the new work documents the real-life experiences of black migrants from the Caribbean who came to Harlem and Brooklyn, New York, at the time as the African-American migration from the South reached the same communities.  The characters in Wilkerson’s story reflect so much of the experience that my collaborators and I thought was unique to black migrants from abroad. 

Stone of Help tells of one church community, the Ebenezer Gospel Tabernacle, and their spiritual offspring, and so, covers a narrower swath of the epic sweep of Ms. Wilkerson’s story, (which I understand took her 15 years to complete).   Stone of Help is a little over 100 pages in length, and can be read in one or a couple of sittings.  It focuses more on the spiritual history than does Warmth of Other Suns; but the sociological phenomena are very similar. 

The people you encounter in Stone of Help settled in Harlem, in not so welcoming times.  They decided to build a church, rather than adopt the city ways.  There are funny anecdotes about the juxtaposition of Caribbean andNew York cultures, as seen through the eyes of the immigrants’ offspring.  There are sobering discussions about the black church and the challenges of survival it faces after hundred years.

People of all backgrounds need to understand that the stereotypical views of the history of black people in the United States are just that, stereotypes.  There is much more diversity and nuance to our experiences.  Even within the same extended family, some migrated, some did not.  And, the differences in outcomes can be massive.

In the interest of deeper understanding of who we are and how we came to be here, let’s commit to reading more about the migrations of our own families and our neighbors’.

The proceeds from your purchase of  Stone of Help will go towards sustaining the Harlem landmark as it enters its second century.  Click here: www.createspace.com/3616298