In 'The Mixed Marriage Project,' Dorothy Roberts works through her dad's archive

Summary

NPR's Book of the Day – Episode Summary

Title: In 'The Mixed Marriage Project,' Dorothy Roberts works through her dad's archive
Date: March 17, 2026
Host: Andrew Limbong (intro), Michelle Martin (interview)
Guest: Dorothy Roberts, author of The Mixed Marriage Project

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Overview of the Episode

This episode features renowned legal scholar Dorothy Roberts discussing her new memoir, The Mixed Marriage Project: A Memoir of Love, Race and Family. The conversation, led by NPR's Michelle Martin, delves into Roberts' journey through the extensive archives her late father, white anthropologist Robert Roberts, left behind. The episode explores complex personal and societal dimensions of interracial marriage, racial identity, and the intimate implications of being both subject and product of an academic project centered on dismantling white supremacy through interracial unions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Discovery of Her Father's Archive

• Confronting the Past (01:21):
  Dorothy Roberts describes finally examining the dozens of boxes left by her father after his death:
  • “I confronted them because they'd been in my basement for a decade already. And so I wanted to see what was there.” (01:21)
• She shares the shock of finding not just research, but a century’s worth of interviews with interracial couples—far more than she expected.

Her Father’s Beliefs and Project

• Robert Roberts' Thesis (01:46):
  Robert Roberts believed interracial marriage—particularly between Black and white people—was key to dismantling white supremacy and the racial caste system in the U.S.
  • “He believed that black and white people marrying each other was the best path to dismantling white supremacy and what he called the racial caste system in Chicago and in the United States.” (01:46)
• Dorothy is surprised to discover that her father’s interest in interracial marriage predated meeting her Black mother, challenging her assumptions about her parents’ relationship.

Personal Complications: Was She Part of the Project?

• Being Both Daughter and Data (03:01): Roberts wrestles with the realization that she and her siblings may have been subjects in their father’s social experiment to prove that the children of mixed-race couples would thrive:
  • “...when I found out that he had started these interviews and gone on this mission prior to creating our family and then later discovering a file he kept on me, it did raise the question, well, am I part of his research experiment to prove that children like me would be well adjusted?” (03:01)

Painful Revelations from the Archive

• Interview Excerpts & Racism within Interracial Couples (04:12): Roberts discusses the mixed feelings evoked by the interviews—stories of love and endurance, but also the persistence of racist attitudes within these couples.
  • She recounts her father’s investigation into the Manassas Society, learning of the exclusion of Black women from a club of interracial couples and hurtful stereotypes:
    • “One white wife says very bluntly, the Manassas Society women don't like colored women. And why don't they like colored women? Because they believe colored women have loose morals and they don't demand that white men marry them.” (04:18)

Dorothy Roberts’ Personal Experience of Identity

• Struggles with Identity and Regret (05:24): Roberts reflects on a time when she hid her white parentage to fit in with a close group of Black peers in college, feelings she now regrets after reexamining her father's influence and the nurturing aspects of their relationship:
  • “I didn't want them to know that I had a white father. I thought that somehow that might interfere with my connection to them. I now feel that it probably wouldn't have made a difference, but I didn't want to take that risk.” (05:24)
• She ultimately acknowledges her father's commitment to human equality, and how his teachings shaped her worldview.

Reflections on Interracial Intimacy & Her Own Scholarship

• Limits of Love as Solution (06:58):
  While Roberts doesn’t believe interracial intimacy alone will end racism, she emphasizes change must begin in our closest relationships:
  • “I still don’t believe that interracial intimacy by itself is the answer. But I do think that we have to start with ourselves in our most intimate relationships when we think about how we are going to create a world... in which racial hierarchy is unimaginable.” (06:58)
• She recognizes her academic work is guided by the same larger questions about equality her father pondered:
  • “I think underlying it is the question of what will it take to love each other as equal human beings?” (07:36)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Am I part of his research experiment to prove that children like me would be well adjusted?”
  —Dorothy Roberts (03:01)
• “The Manassas Society women don't like colored women ... Because they believe colored women have loose morals and they don't demand that white men marry them.”
  —Recounted by Dorothy Roberts from her father’s interviews (04:18)
• “I didn't want them to know that I had a white father ... I thought a lot about that in writing my memoir.”
  —Dorothy Roberts (05:24)
• “What will it take to love each other as equal human beings?”
  —Dorothy Roberts (07:36)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:02 — Introduction by Andrew Limbong; context for Roberts and her new memoir
• 01:17 — Michelle Martin introduces the interview and Roberts’ journey into her father’s archive
• 02:12 — Roberts describes her shock at what she discovered in the boxes
• 03:01 — Roberts grapples with being a subject in her father’s research
• 04:12-05:12 — Painful discoveries in the interviews with interracial couples
• 05:24 — Roberts' reflections on concealing her identity in college
• 06:46 — Martin prompts Roberts on how this project impacted her own scholarship
• 06:58-07:36 — Roberts’ thoughts on love, intimacy, and the larger social project

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Conclusion

This episode offers a profound exploration of The Mixed Marriage Project, weaving together Dorothy Roberts' personal reckoning with her family's legacy, sharp historical insight into interracial marriage, and a thoughtful critique of the limitations—and importance—of intimate change in a world structured by racial hierarchy. Through candid reflection and wrenching archival stories, Roberts invites listeners to confront the complex interplay of love, research, and activism in the ongoing struggle against racism.

Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. There's no silver bullet to fix racism, no easy single switch that we can flip and then, aha. We live in a racially harmonious utopia. But one man thought there was, and that sole solution was interracial marriage. He was a white anthropologist named Robert Roberts, and he devoted his research to this goal. And while his daughter, Dorothy Roberts, was always aware of the broad strokes of her father's work, she wasn't aware exactly how devoted to his work he was and how his work actually involved her. She's got a new book out telling the story. It's titled the Mixed Marriage Project. She talks about it to NPR's Michelle Martin after the break.

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[Michelle Martin]

It began with a few dozen boxes left behind after the death of her father.

[Dorothy Roberts]

I confronted them because they'd been in my basement for a decade already. And so I I wanted to see what was there.

[Michelle Martin]

That's MacArthur Genius Award winner Dorothy Roberts, an African American woman known for her scholarship around race, gender and the law. Her father, Robert Roberts, was a white anthropologist from Chicago who spent much of his life steeped in a research project.

[Dorothy Roberts]

He believed that black and white people marrying each other was the best path to dismantling white supremacy and what he called the racial caste system in Chicago and in the United States.

[Michelle Martin]

Dorothy Roberts new memoir is the Mixed Marriage Project, in which she chronicles the discovery of more than an unfinished manuscript. I started by asking her if she had a sense of what she would find when she finally dove into those boxes.

[Dorothy Roberts]

I knew there would just be a lot of research, but it was a complete shock to me to find out that there was 100 years of marriages in these interviews. But even more shocking was that I'd always thought that he got interested in interracial marriage, especially black white couples, when he met my black mother. So this really flipped my whole conception of their relationship. So the question for me was, why did he get interested in this topic, and did he get interested in my mother because of his obsession with Interracial marriage.

[Michelle Martin]

Did you feel a sense of, I don't know, is it. Is betrayal too strong of a word? I mean, did you feel in a way that you were part of his research?

[Dorothy Roberts]

Yeah, well, of course, that question then extended to me. So it was not just a question of how my mother fit into his research project, but also how I and my sisters fit into it. You know, there was this belief that children born to mixed race couples would have psychological, social, even biological problems because they didn't fit into one group or the other. And he wanted to disprove that. And so when I found out that he had started these interviews and gone on this mission prior to creating, you know, our family and then later discovering a file he kept on me, it did raise the question, well, am I part of his research experiment to prove that. That children like me would be well adjusted?

[Michelle Martin]

Sort of threaded through the book is your own inquiry, but it's also his notes from the interviews that he did with interracial couples. Would you talk about some of those interviews? Because some of them are kind of painful to read, you know, frankly.

[Dorothy Roberts]

Oh, yes.

[Michelle Martin]

Some of the attitudes that some of the partners had about each other.

[Dorothy Roberts]

I had so many feelings about these fascinating interviews. So there were stories of courage and deep love and commitment, but also many of these couples still held, in my opinion, very racist beliefs. For example, my father discovers a club called the Manassas Society where he'd hoped to find mixed race couples to interview. And he discovers that most of the couples consist of white women and black husbands. And when he inquires about what happened to the black women married to white men, one white wife says very bluntly, the Manassas Society women don't like colored women. And why don't they like colored women? Because they believe colored women have loose morals and they don't demand that white men marry them.

[Michelle Martin]

Professor Roberts, those are some really painful stories. But you also say in the book that there was a point at which you didn't want people to know that you had a white father. Can you say more about that?

[Dorothy Roberts]

Yeah, that's true. Something I regret now, especially after reading the file that my father had on me and thinking back on how much he contributed to my identity. But it happened when I was in college. I joined a group of black students who were very, very close to each other. Just a dazzling, brilliant group of students. And I didn't want them to know that I had a white father. I thought that somehow that might interfere with my connection to them. I now feel that it probably wouldn't have made a difference, but I didn't want to take that risk. And I thought a lot about that in writing my memoir. Just memories of how close we were, how much he respected my opinion and then accepted when I disagreed with him. And so I did come to realize how important his lessons about human equality, the way he was so dedicated to his research, his mission to challenge the racial caste system. You know, all of those lessons and my upbringing carried with me to this day.

[Michelle Martin]

You've had a very distinguished career in the academy. You've written seminal works like Killing the Black Body, which many people may know. So how did this deep dive into your parents lives cause you to reflect on your own work?

[Dorothy Roberts]

I still don't believe that interracial intimacy is by itself is the answer. But I do think that we have to start with ourselves in our most intimate relationships when we think about how we are going to create a world that a future in which racial hierarchy is unimaginable. And I also came to realize that when, even though my work prior to this didn't touch on interracial intimacy or interracial love, that the deeper questions that my father was asking, they are questions that I've asked throughout my work as well. I think underlying it is the question of what will it take to love each other as equal human beings?

[Michelle Martin]

Dorothy Roberts is a sociologist and law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Her latest book is the Mixed Marri Project, A Memoir of Love, Race and Family. Professor Roberts, thank you so much for talking with us.

[Dorothy Roberts]

Oh, thank you so much. It was a real pleasure. I appreciate it.

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