Author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the migration of more than six million black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life from 1915-1970. Among them was Dr. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster.

Pershing attempted to find employment the summer after his freshman year at Leland College. In the late 1930's, jobs were hard to come by, especially for an African American living in the Jim Crow south. To make matters worse, job preference was regularly given to young Black men who were not seeking a college education.

One summer, he went looking for work at the sawmill. He saw a classmate there from high school and was told the work wasn’t too hard. It was stacking wood staves to make barrels. Pershing asked the foreman for a job, but he was told that there was nothing available.

He was getting desperate. He spotted his friend stacking staves. “Show me how to do this.” The friend showed him what to do, and Pershing worked beside him. He looked up and saw the foreman watching him. Pershing pretended not to see him, worked even harder. The foreman left, and, when he came back, Pershing was still at work. At the end of the day, the foreman hired him.

Pershing finished out the summer stacking staves, not minding the hard work and not finding it demeaning. He said, “Sometimes, you have to stoop to conquer.”