In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. She interviewed more than a thousand individuals, and gained access to new data and offical records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves. - Back cover. In this epic masterwork, Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history-- the decades-long migration of Black citizens who fled the South for Northern and Western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America.

Originally published: New York : Random House, ©2010. "Vintage Books Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-679-76388-8"-- title page verso.

Part I. In the land of the forefathers : Leaving -- The Great Migration, 1915-1970 -- Part II. Beginnings : Ida Mae Brandon Gladney -- The stirrings of discontent -- George Swanson Starling -- Robert Joseph Pershing Foster -- A burdensome labor -- The Awakening -- Breaking away -- Part III. Exodus : The appointed time of their coming -- Crossing over -- Part IV. The kinder mistress : Chicago -- New York -- Los Angeles -- The things they left behind -- Transplanted in alien soil -- Divisions -- To bend in strange winds -- The other side of Jordan -- Complications -- The river keeps running -- The prodigals -- Disillusionment -- Revolutions -- The fullness of the migration -- Part V. Aftermath : In the places they left -- Losses -- More North and West than South -- Redemption -- And, perhaps, to bloom -- The winter of their lives -- The emancipation of Ida Mae.