When I told my father I was going to marry Jake, he was horrified. He told me, “If you marry that man, you will never set foot in this house again.” My decision to marry a black man was met with widespread disapproval, and the early years of our marriage in Birmingham were incredibly difficult. […]

“He had gone to confirm the spellings of my babies’ names—Leonor and Buchanan, both lost to stillbirth. I waited, a little anxious about the delay, thinking maybe something had gone wrong with the tattoo. When he came back, he looked almost hesitant. ‘I don’t want to sound strange,’ he said, ‘but my grandmother’s name was […]