Sadeqa Johnson will discuss her latest book on Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library. (Photo courtesy Simon & Schuster)
For African Americans, looking back at history can be fraught with a measure of pain and sadness. But there are also stories of strength and perseverance to be found. Fortunately, author Sadeqa Johnson, who wrote the 2021 release “The Yellow Wife,” about the Black wife of a jailer of enslaved people, based on the story of Richmond’s Lumpkin’s Jail, isn’t afraid to look for them.
“I have been bitten by the historical fiction bug — I really enjoy it,” says Johnson, who also teaches writing at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “I feel that right now, I have been charged to shine a light in dark spaces in history ... particularly Black history. I find that it’s washed out of our history books, it’s not taught in school. And so I feel like it’s my job to bring some of these stories to light.”
Image courtesy Simon & Schuster
In her second novel of historical fiction, “The House of Eve,” she writes about two young women in the 1950s — Eleanor, a Howard University student, and Ruby, a 15-year-old living in Philadelphia. Both women become pregnant, but Ruby is coerced to go to “The House of Eve,” where she gives birth and must surrender her child to the judgmental and unsympathetic staff at the home for unwed mothers. The book tells the story of the difficult choices both women face and how they handle the consequences while holding on to their dreams and identity.
Johnson talks about her research, what she hopes readers take away from her novel and the relevance of the story.
Richmond magazine: In researching your book, what surprised you the most about what these women had to go through?
Sadeqa Johnson: I think just the existence of these homes for unwed women and … the psychology of them … and how these women were forced [to surrender their children], you know, the things that they were told: “If you don’t give up your baby, you could be arrested.” … [And] they were, all across the country and, in fact, across the world. In my research, I found homes in Canada and Ireland, and so this was a trend during this time period in history.
RM: With abortion back at the forefront of national discussions, does that give the book additional relevance?
Johnson: I always tell my students that you don’t have to write what you think is going to impact the world — or not impact the world, but you don’t have to write for the time. Because I guarantee, if you write a book, the world will fit itself around it. And I think that that’s exactly what happened with “The House of Eve.” It wasn’t a statement that I was trying to make, but the book is timely, because of current events.
RM: Do you think you might continue the story? It seems the characters have more to share with each other and with us.
Johnson: I’ve never written a sequel, so to speak. But sometimes my characters will appear in … another one of my novels. So that could possibly happen.
RM: Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about or share?
Johnson: I think that with this book, one of the things that I want readers to take away from it is the impossible choices that women have had to make in history and choices that we are still making, but we still continue to plow forward, and we still continue to do what needs to be done.
