The House at the End of the Road

The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South

Related Programs:
The Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program

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.

Please join the New America Foundation for a conversation with author W. Ralph Eubanks on his new book and a broader discussion about the changing nature of race in America and the idea of a post racial society. Moderating the conversation is Dayo Olopade of the Root.