>> richard wright was one of the greatest novelist of the 20th century. he was a migrant from mississippi to chicago. he grew up in natchez, mississippi, son of a sharecropper. always wanted to write and sent out on a journey in 1927 to get to chicago. he spent pretty much his entire career, almost everything he wrote had to do with understanding this migration experience he was part of, understanding his connection between the south and the north. >> but he moved to paris to die, gave up on united states. >> he ultimately was searching for the warmth of other suns really. he kept moving and moving, went to chicago, new york, went around the country all together -- left the country all together in search of it. >> you say you interviewed 1200 people. >> i stopped counting after that. >> where did you find them and how did you find them. >> i set out three people who would represent each of three streams of great migration. that took me to new york, chicago and los angeles to represent those three. in all of those cities i went to senior centers, aarp meet

i want to read you what you have in your book up front by richard wright back. i was leaving the south to fling myself into the unknown. i was taking a part of the south to transplant alien soil to see if it could grow differently. if it could drink cool rains banned in strange lands, respond to "the warmth of other suns." thus the title of your book's "the warmth of other suns" and perhaps to bloom by richard wright. who was he and why did you pick him to do, to use your title? >> guest: richard wright was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century. he was a migrant from mississippi to chicago. he grew up in mississippi this son of a sharecropper and always wanted to write and he set out on a journey in 1927 to get to chicago. he spent pretty much his entire career almost everything he wrote had to do with understanding this migration experience that he's apart of. understanding his connection between the south in the north. >> but he moved to paris to die and gave up on united states. >> guest: yields metlay was searching for "the warmth of other suns."

english classes could spend an entire semester reading richard wright's black boy and how wright's reflectionss early life in jim crow south resonate in the lives of michael brown and the protesters in his community. in social studies teachers looking to help students make sense of the activism and response to brown's killing can use pbs' documentary about the murder of emmitt till to get them thinking about how a single death can launch a movement. science teachers may want to consider sharing this historical document with their students. in this 1851 article dr. samuel cartwright, at the time a widely published and well respected doctor, discusses his diskocove of a mental disorder he claimed caused slaves to run away. after reading the article students could explore the history of scientific racism and how it continues to influence our thinking even today. now some students may already be engaged with hip-hop's music or racialized music. music teachers can help them trace these themes across decades and genres of music by having them listen to and discuss everything from public enemy's figh

wright. so nice to see you all. so, hearing from richard, the language about community healing and i guess part of the challenge as we are asking about this question of the perfect victim and whether or not a victim has to be perfect. so, is this healing, this attempt to heal, is it a band aid over a much deeper wound? do we need to do some work of cleaning out that wound first before we put a band aid on it? >> yeah. i think that part of it is we have to think about these moments where you have a huge outcry over an individual and start thinking about how they can be about more than healing around that individual death, right? and also more how it can be about more than prosecuting a prosecutor and police officer and how it can speak to, if the question is what is justice for mike brown and before that what was justice for oscar grant? is it a prosecution or is it re-creating a policing style that makes it possible for mike brown to walk down in the middle of the street without being harassed. >> interesting you bring up oscar grant. think

wright's artillery battery was positioned to the north in what's now a cemetery about 600 yards behind me. you had captain richardgram's cavalry in the salient. and davidson's battery to the south behind you and to your -- to my right out here on what was then called jerusalem plank road would be lampkins and flanner's batteries. basically the confederates had artillery on the left, the right, and in the rear. so when the union troops attacked through here, they are going to get hit on three fronts. now, at 4:44 a.m. a tremendous explosion ruptured the earth throwing men, canons and a huge chunk of clay, the size of a four-room schoolhouse toward the heavens. the confederate casualties from the explosion were 44 killed outright, 234 bounded for a total of 278 known casualties. there were probably more. when this stuff blew up and went into the air, well, it's got to come down. so much went up that it took ten minutes for the debris to stop falling out of the sky. union soldiers 125 yards to my left were actually in the fallout area. they didn't stay there. they went back to the east a little ways to get out from