The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson *****

 FABULOUS. READ IT. The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson is about two young women fighting their way out of poverty. Ruby’s mother was fifteen when Ruby was born. She was raised by her Grandma Nene and her Aunt Marie. Her only hope to escape poverty was to go to college. She was selected for a program where the top two students would get college scholarships - her only chance for a better life. Eleanor grew up in a small Ohio town. Her working-class parents saved all their lives so she could go to college. Both girls worked hard to not lose their small advantages.

Ruby fell in love with a boy whose family owned several businesses in town. Eleanor chose a medical student from a family with old money. Both families felt that these girls were below their sons. Both girls became pregnant and both boys wanted to marry them. What could make Ruby’s and Eleanor’s lives more challenging? They were African American. Regardless, this is an optimistic book.

Ruby is sent to a punitive home for unwed mothers. Eleanor marries her doctor, but the marriage is difficult, his mother is meddlesome, and her pregnancies end in miscarriages.

The story takes place in 1951 at Howard University. Eleanor wanted to join the (fictional) Alpha Beta Chi sorority (the ABCs), but she was turned down because her skin was too dark, and her family was too poor. One of the themes of this book was the division between rich (high yellow) light-skinned families and poor, dark-skinned families.

Ruby’s boyfriend was Shimmy (Simon Shapiro). He was Jewish. His father owned the tenement where Ruby lived. The Jews were as racist as the high-yellow blacks.

Two historical African Americans were in the book. Charles Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He developed techniques for blood storage and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. Dorothy Porter (May 25, 1905 – December 17, 1995) was key to building up the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University as one of the world's best collections of library materials for Black/African history and culture.

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