Caffeinated Politics

My dad, Royce Humphrey, often told me when growing up in Hancock, Wisconsin, that a person is only a stranger until you start talking with them. A rule I live by, and this weekend it proved to be mighty true. I had never met Sabrina Harris, a grandmother who lives in Chicago, but in about 20 minutes of talking with her at our home, I knew she was a perfect match for a podcast. Her engaging story, along with her ability to convey her thoughts with words, made this episode a joy to work with as the snow fell on Saturday. (Click photo below for this Doty Land episode.)

Eloquently spoken Sabrina Harris shares stories from a lynching in Alabama that forces her family to become part of the Great Migration. In this movement, approximately six million African Americans moved from the rural Southern United States to the urban North, Midwest, and West between 1910 and 1970.  This story strongly echoes the ones from “The Warmth of Other Suns”, the historical study by Isabel Wilkerson. With insight into how some Blacks, at times, feared the means to achieve Civil Rights, Haris speaks of her desire for change as a teenager, and her recollections about the night Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. She speaks about hope for our nation’s future. If there is only one podcast episode you listen to this year, the conversation with Sabrina Harris is the one to hear and learn from.