Photographs—and particularly Wilkerson’s old photo of her mother—represent history’s power to enrich the present. When they reach the North, Wilkerson explains, migrants generally have their photos taken. It’s like a routine of welcoming them to their new homes. When Wilkerson finds the photo that her mother originally took when she reached Washington, D.C. from Georgia in the 1950s, she begins wondering about her parents’ experiences during the Great Migration, and she starts investigating why so many migrants choose not to share their stories with their children and grandchildren. Most of all, she wonders how her life—and the U.S. as a whole—would look today if the Great Migration had never happened. Just like the photos that Ida Mae, Robert, and George show her when they recount their stories, the photo of Wilkerson’s mother reveals the stakes of understanding history and the power of individual decisions, in aggregate, to shape the world forever.
Photographs Symbol Timeline in The Warmth of Other Suns
