How It Happens

Born in Tennessee in 1890, Dorothy May was the middle daughter of Addie Jackson, a married African-American housekeeper at one of the white boardinghouses in town, and Tom Mitchell, a commanding white attorney from a prominent family. We follow Dorothy May's experiences with race relations and class division, both as a child and later as a teacher. Dorothy May, choosing between her career and marriage to a man she barely knows, moves to Detroit. -- adapted from back cover