"This book highlights the lasting impact and passed down trauma of slavery. It is unflinching, hard, and provocative. Importantly, it highlights how relevant this history is today. I wish it had more references and citations, so that I can look up more of the background information, but I felt it was a really important message. I heard Joy DeGruy speak at POCC and it was very moving and inspiring." -Amanda Benedict

"This book is a relentless, incredibly well researched blow-by-blow account of how the United States built a system of segregation while pretending it wasn’t. Each chapter details how Black families were impacted by lower pay, fewer protections, exclusion from wealth building opportunities, social and economic programs that benefited Whites, and chronically underfunded schools and neighborhoods. It closes with arguments for and meaningful solutions to the question of reparations." - Sarah Tamsen

"This book really opened my eyes to how the major textbook publishing companies manipulated so much of what I learned about American history. I feel empowered by how many holes this book was able to help me first recognize and then begin to fill." - Carly Borken

“This is as accessible as sweeping history gets. Margaret Wilkerson tells the story of the five-decade-long Great Migration, which saw Southern Blacks move to the North and West by the millions between the Great War and the 1970s, through the experiences of three not-famous individuals whose personalities and proclivities are as distinct as the racism they faced was similar. There are also short historical essays that provide context for the eras more broadly and also about where each of the protagonists started their journeys and where they settled. You come away with an understanding of the massive societal impact of the Migration and profound appreciation for what the migrants endured.” -Jon Willson