Book Study: "Caste: the Origins of our Discontent," Isabel Wilkinson. part 1

Book Study: Caste: The Origins of our Discontent, by Isabel Wilkerson
Part 1

Caste: 49 pages; 6374 words, many visuals


John Brovsky
The author of Caste also wrote The Warmth of Other Suns, her Pulitzer winner about the Great Migration of 1915-1970. In The Warmth of Other Suns, she documents three studies of where the three “heroes” grew up and why they left. I was moved by the stories of these three real people who all grew up in the South and eventually ended up in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Caste is a follow-up study that takes race one step further. Whereas the Great Migration was a study in geography and relationships, Caste is a study of why the three heroes were as unhappy in their old age as they were in a cruel South.
Caste is the next best seller, moving The Warmth of Other Suns in another direction.
Comparing the Indian, the German and the American caste systems, Wilkerson moves swiftly through the murky waters of being bound by color, or religion, or social standing and trapped in that system which favors one race over another. It is powerful and interesting to think that the overwhelming institutions of Slavery in America, of an unbreakable system of upper class and outcasts in India, and the systematic extermination of the Jews in Germany resulted in modern countries that each claim to be democracies.
Caste is a deep dive into the ingrained system that proposes freedoms at the expense of a large group of people who are virtual slaves. Injustice is a hard pill to swallow for all men, but if they have the advantage, most will protect this special gift that they have inherited. That is the fundamental take-away in the new outbreak of fascism in America.
Both of my grandmothers and grandfathers came from Europe. My mom’s parents were Irish Catholics and my dad’s parents were from Slovakian Catholics—each family left for the warmth of other suns, found success, and participated in the grand American Dream. The Brovskys learned English, and the Harts lost their brogue. They became American and I enjoyed learning about how they “saved” their families by immigrating to America. I am white, and for that I was lucky.
So this study of Caste was important to me. And it was important to all my students of color because I witnessed, firsthand, how the system was purposefully holding them back. The system that helped me out, and inspired me to teach.

Directions for teaching: use this guide as a signpost in making your unit with the methods and timing are completely your own. I want to save you time, and I want you to become a great teacher. I think that’s your business. I resent all the “assistance” I’ve received over my career in numerous, boring classes on How to Teach, How to teach the beginning of the period, How to ask questions, How not to teach things that the test does not cover.

Enjoy your career. I love teachers. I hope I can help.



Caste: 49 pages; 6374 words, many visuals