The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South

By W. Ralph Eubanks

Book Overview

A powerful story about race and identity told through the lives of one American family across three generations

In 1914, in defiance of his middle-class landowning family, a young white man named James Morgan Richardson married a light-skinned black woman named Edna Howell. Over more than twenty years of marriage, they formed a strong family and built a house at the end of a winding sandy road in South Alabama, a place where their safety from the hostile world around them was assured, and where they developed a unique racial and cultural identity. Jim and Edna Richardson were Ralph Eubanks's grandparents.

Part personal journey, part cultural biography, The House at the End of the Road examines a little-known piece of this country's past: interracial families that survived and prevailed despite Jim Crow laws, including those prohibiting mixed-race marriage. As he did in his acclaimed 2003 memoir, Ever Is a Long Time, Eubanks uses interviews, oral history, and archival research to tell a story about race in American life that few readers have experienced. Using the Richardson family as a microcosm of American views on race and identity, The House at the End of the Road examines why ideas about racial identity rooted in the eighteenth century persist today. In lyrical, evocative prose, this extraordinary book pierces the heart of issues of race and racial identity, leaving us ultimately hopeful about the world as our children might see it.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006137573X
• ISBN13: 9780061375736
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books (DC)
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

IMPORTANT TOPIC--WELL ARTICULATED

The topic of multi-race identity touches many families--perhaps these days, more than ever. School integration and more open societies that have emerged in the new Civil Rights era have brought together humans who only see and are attracted to what's inside. The results speak for themselves--many new mixtures of biology and culture. The book delves into attitudes and mores of the old South in regards to mixing of the races. The story is told with sensitivity and depth, and without prejudice. Readers will appreciate, especially, the insights learned and expressed in the last two chapters. These were the best! See also:[ [ASIN:1587369265 From Dunbar to Destiny: One Woman's Journey Through Desegregation and Beyond]] and:[ [ASIN:1416543287 The Black Girl Next Door: A Memoir]]

Unique family memoir

The author has taken time to learn quite a bit about his grandparents, Mr. Jim Richardson, his wife and their family. These were interesting people. Their method of coping with a mixed racial marriage in rural Alabama in the early to mid part of the 20th century could, I believe, be called unique. I hope the author continues in his quest to learn about these folks, their time and their area, and lets us share what he learns. I recommend this book.

House at the end of the road by eubanks

The book got here in a timely manner and It was in good shape. It was a very interesting book but not much as I would like about the family now