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Growing Up A Child Of Two Races

A family portrait. E. Dolores Johnson is on the far right.
Chicago Review Press
A family portrait. E. Dolores Johnson is on the far right.

There's a long road ahead to overcome America's racist past. There are some milestones to mark, though, like the fact that adults in love can usually get married without the government interfering.

It wasn't so when E. Dolores Johnson's parents got married in the 1940s. She was white, he was black, and they could have been arrested in Indiana for getting married.

So they fled to New York state to tie the knot. It was only when Dolores traced her family years later that she found a shocking secret. She reveals it in the book Say I’m Dead: A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets and Love.

The author visits to talk about her journey of discovery.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.