Like George Starling’s time in Detroit, Pershing’s time in Europe isn’t quite as liberating as he might have hoped. It shows him that he will still face flagrant racism even in technically integrated places. Yet it also encourages him to keep fighting for a better life by showing him that he has the power to take his life into his own hands. As Wilkerson points out, World War II therefore accelerated the Great Migration for
two reasons: it created a labor shortage that drove further Black migration to the North, but it also exposed Black soldiers and their families to the prospect of a better life, free from racism.