Origin

Grappling with tremendous personal loss, Isabel Wilkerson channels her grief into a global investigation as she begins drafting Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The process marks a shift from traditional journalism to a broader inquiry into systems of oppression. Her personal life and professional pursuit become intertwined as she seeks meaning through research.

Wilkerson is consulted for her opinion after the killing of Trayvon Martin, grounding her work in contemporary racial justice debates. She argues that bigotry can operate beyond race alone, inviting readers to consider caste as a broader framework. The moment anchors her project in real-world conversations about injustice.

She argues that caste structures can shape discrimination even where populations share the same ethnicity or 'race.' The discussion uses cross-cultural examples to show how social hierarchy persists across borders. This sets the foundation for her global examination of prejudice.

Wilkerson travels to Germany and discusses with friends how the histories of slavery and the Holocaust intersect and diverge. She debates subjugation versus extermination, probing the moral weight of systems of power. The conversations reveal parallels as well as the limits of comparing atrocities.

The narrative includes a couple in Nazi Germany: a Gentile Nazi party member falls in love with a Jewish woman. They attempt to escape together, but she is captured and sent to a camp. The arc illustrates how intimate relationships are crushed by state-sponsored anti-Semitism.

The book recounts the work of Allison Davis and Elizabeth Stubbs Davis, Black researchers who collaborate with Burleigh and Mary Gardner on an undercover project about segregation. Their fieldwork contributes to the 1941 book Deep South: A Social Anthropological Study of Caste and Class in a Southern City. Their story highlights cross-racial collaboration under oppressive conditions.

The lynching of a Black man unfolds before a white audience, who treat it as a show. The crowd's reactions show the entertainment value and normalization of racial terror in American society. Wilkerson uses the memory to illustrate how caste-like hierarchies endure.

Wilkerson resolves to write a book centered on caste as a framework that can illuminate more than race alone. She outlines how systems of hierarchy cross cultures and borders. This decision marks the shift from analysis to producing a full manuscript.

She travels to India and visits the home of Dr. Ambedkar, who championed the rights of the Dalit ('untouchable') peoples. The trip deepens her understanding of caste as a lived social order and informs the book's global scope. The Indian leg anchors the argument in historical and moral lineage.

Wilkerson speaks about her forthcoming work on stage, explaining how the caste framework helps illuminate bigotry in ways that race alone cannot. The talk positions caste as a universal lens for analyzing social hierarchy, and it signals the transition from private study to public discourse. The moment marks a tipping point toward widespread engagement with the idea.

An onscreen monologue notes that Caste becomes a number-one New York Times nonfiction bestseller around the time of the November 2020 U.S. presidential election. The book spends ample time on the best-sellers list, reinforcing its impact on public conversation. The success elevates the framework of caste into mainstream discourse.

The film closes with a synthesis of Wilkerson's insights, showing how caste explains many forms of oppression and offers a practical path to action. The monologue ties personal loss, historical memory, and global study into a call for understanding and reform. The work is presented as a living framework for combating bigotry.