The school careers of two teenage girls who lived across town from each other ––one black, one white–– were altered by a court-ordered desegregation plan for Durham, NC in 1970. LaHoma and Cindy both found themselves at the same high school from different sides of a court-ordered racial “balancing act.” This plan thrust each of them involuntarily out of their comfort zones and into new racial landscapes. Their experiences, recounted in alternating first person narratives, are the embodiment of desegregation policies, situated in a particular time and place. Cindy and LaHoma’s intertwining coming of age stories are part of a bigger story about America, education and race--and about how the personal relates to the political.

This bestselling dual memoir covers the two women’s life trajectories from early school days to future careers working in global public health, challenging gender biases, racial inequities, and health disparities. LaHoma and Cindy tell their stories aware of the country's return to de facto school segregation, achieved through the long-term dismantling of policies that initially informed their school assignments. As adults, they consider the influence of school desegregation on their current lives and the value of bringing all of us into conversation about what is lost or gained when children go to school in black and white.

While standing on her grandfather’s porch, Cindy was drawn by her ancestors to discover who she is by learning who they were and where they came from.

As she uncovered her family history with the use of various genealogy databases, she began to piece together the puzzle of her family’s story—from trans-Atlantic migrations and roots in England, the Netherlands, and Germany to the homes and lives built in Virginia, New York, Iowa, and North Carolina. Her quest became a journey across the world.

Standing where they stood, she found connection to them, but she also found questions. Why had they left? Did they find what they hoped for in the new places? Who had they harmed along the way? And what was her role in repairing those relationships on behalf of her ancestors?

Through essays and original photography organized by lineage and location, Cindy weaves together narratives that situate her life within the particular nexus of personal and historical legacies of heartbreak and desire.

For anyone who has sought their own place in the world, Ancestral Landscapes provides a guide for genealogical research and offers grace for what may be found along the way.