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

W. Ralph Eubanks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2009

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Eubanks pieces together this intricate story across three generations of his family, and in turn sheds powerful new light on the complex story of race and identity in these United States. A pleasure to read, a poignant American story not to be missed. (Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps )

Eubanks’s grandparents created an interracial family in rural Alabama nearly a century ago. Now he has taken his family’s story and used it to explore our changing AMerican ideas about what to make of our ancestries. His work should inspire all of us to think anew about our country. (K. Anthony Appiah, Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy, Princeton University )

Eubanks writes with a novelist’s sense of story and a poet’s eye for language and detail. Most important, though, he writes with sensitivity, understanding, and Socratic wisdom. This is not just an important book for these timse--it’s a book for all time. (Steve Yarbrough, author of Prisoners of War )

“Eubank’s memoir is written in clear, accessible prose...his straightforward manner makes the emotional issues and difficult memories all the more poignant.” (The Sun Herald )

“Ralph Eubanks’s Mississippi detective story wrapped in a memoir is a remarkable journey back to the civil rights future. This wistful little book holds a significance as rich as Delta loam.” (David Levering Lewis, author of WEB DU BOIS: The Fight for Equality and the American Century )

“Compelling...by turns a charming remembrance of a rural childhood and a chilling reminder of racism’s legacy.” (BookPage )

PRAISE FOR EVER IS A LONG TIME:“A gift to everyone who reads it, a book that is at once a touching family memoir and an attempt—successful—to come to terms with the author’s past.... It is, in all respects, an exemplary and admirable piece of work.” (Washington Post )

From the Inside Flap

A story of one family's love and courage in the Jim Crow-era Deep South --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian; 1 edition (May 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006137573X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061375736
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #822,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

W. Ralph Eubanks is the author of Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi's Dark Past (Basic Books, 2003), which Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley named as one of the best nonfiction books of 2003, and The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South (Harper, 2009). He has contributed articles to the Washington Post Outlook and Style sections, the Chicago Tribune, Preservation, The American Scholar and National Public Radio. A graduate of the University of Mississippi (B.A.) and the University of Michigan (M.A., English Language and Literature), he is a recipient of a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and is also a fellow at the New America Foundation. Ralph lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and three children and is Director of Publishing at the Library of Congress.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique family memoir, August 11, 2009

By 

D. J. Smith (Jackson, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South (Hardcover)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, November 28, 2010

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Jan - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South (Hardcover)

One of those must-reads for an understanding of today's social climate. Although the writing itself is imperfect and occasionally repetitious, that can be overlooked because of the sincerity and importance of the content. It is a quick read because the story is intriguing and compelling. The author is both candid and uncommonly self-aware, and has done his research. He does not try to sugar-coat his characters; therefore, they are very much alive for the reader. Wonderful!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars IMPORTANT TOPIC--WELL ARTICULATED, October 27, 2009

By 

Shirley J. Sprinkles "Shirley Sprinkles -Lear... (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South (Hardcover)

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]]