Q. how did you come to write Don't Bring Home a White Boy?

A. The idea for this book came when Mildred Loving passed away in 2008. Mrs. Loving was the black female half of an interracial couple that challenged Jim Crow laws prohibiting interracial marriage. In 1967, Mrs. Loving and her white husband took their case to the Supreme Court and won. On the anniversary of the legal decision that year, I wrote a piece for The Washington Post, thanking Mrs. Loving. Without her courage, a union like mine-- I'm also a black woman with a white husband-- wouldn't be possible.



But I also raised the point that in the forty odd years since the Lovings challenged miscegenation laws, black women as a group had not married interracially very often. In fact, 74% of all black-white unions are black men married to black women. At a time when everyone is talking about the large numbers of single black women-- and the "shortage" of black men-- it seemed strange that so many of my single sisters refused to date across color lines, even when they were approached by sincere white men. Even when they liked the guy, many said it was an absolute "no go."



Why?, I asked in the Post essay-- and offered my theories.



Well-- you wouldn't believe how much mail I got! So many opinions. Some were supportive, some offered other explanations, some disagreed violently and some were mean-spirited and nasty. Being a writer, my first thought was "there's a book here!" and I got to work.