The closets were small and the bedrooms were modest in size. But with the windows open, you could fall asleep at high tide, listening to the sound of waves crashing on the sand.

My father had no idea how he was going to afford the down payment. He managed to borrow $1000 from his Uncle Lewis in Alexandria, Virginia.

The rest he paid off in monthly installments to the seller for a year.

He had a very fair-skinned, black friend--who could have passed for white--record the deed at Milford City Hall. My father believed that, if he had shown up in person to record the deed, the county recorder would have refused him.

Neither of his next-door neighbors spoke to him. One of them, in fact, pulled the shades whenever he arrived. Soon after he bought the property, he received a threatening letter, although none of the threats were acted upon.