These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship across Race and Class chronicles a life-long friendship between two women, one white and one Black.  The white author's vivid story telling and searing transparency will fuel fruitful conversations and activism for social change.
 
“In this beautifully written, bravely honest exploration, Wendy Sanford insightfully explores the class, racial and - to a lesser degree - gender dynamics that emanate from and reinforce inequalities in the U.S. In doing so, Sanford contributes significantly to our understanding of how those hierarchies are maintained.” —Judith RollinsProfessor Emerita, Wellesley College, Author of Between Women: Domestics and Their Employers
 
“Finally, a story from a white woman raised with ‘help’ who interrogates the relationship’s complexities. Wendy and Mary Norman’s mutual love and courage to choose differently again and again renders a tender, honest, cringeworthy, and powerful read.” —Debby Irving, Author of Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race
 
“A repurposed white identity that separates itself from internalized white supremacist ideology brings joy and satisfaction to human rights work by embracing the power of hope and transformation. These Walls Between Us models such reclamation for everyone.” —Loretta J. Ross, Dred Feminist, Activist,Visiting Associate Professor at Smith College, Author of Reproductive Justice, Volume 1 Praise Sheet at front of book
 
“This is a powerful book with an important lesson that we all must learn in trying to understand others – a book that both blacks and whites should read so that we can enter into a productive dialogue with each other.” —Reverend John Reynolds, author of The Fight for Freedom: A Memoir of My Years in the Civil Rights Movement
 
“Unique, fascinating, and complex, Wendy Sanford’s wonderful memoir is so rare and engaging that I read the book continuously over twelve hours without wanting to stop.” —Peggy McIntosh, Senior Research Scientist and former Associate Director of the Wellesley Centers for Women, author of White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (1989) and On Privilege, Fraudulence, and Teaching As Learning: Selected Essays 1981-2019
 
“White privilege is like an invisible thread that maintains the status quo. Thank goodness Wendy Sanford is doing the work that only she can do!” —Byllye Avery, Founder, Black Women's Health Imperative
 
“Wendy's story demands just recognition of domestic workers, Black women, and women of color for the essential, yet invisible, role they play in caring for so many families. Wendy's story calls on all of us to intentionally dismantle the walls that have kept us from recognizing and actively combatting white supremacist culture that shows up in our own homes.” —Stacy Kono, Executive Director at Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network
 
“This tender and evocative story about friendship across racial and class lines is an important guide for living into this time of racial reckoning. Sanford’s unflinching honesty, insight and wisdom had me saying, out loud, again and again, "Wow, that is so true!"” —Catherine Whitmire, Author of Practicing Peace: A Devotional Walk through the Quaker Tradition and Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity
 
“The politics are crystal clear at all levels, the characters are fascinating and it’s a superb read! Sanford presents the humanity of the characters, in all their contradictoriness, while remaining unrelenting in her condemnation of systemic racial and class violence. White people are all complicit in racism, and all responsible for taking it down, relationship by relationship. This memoir shows how tortuous and slippery that is... and yet, between humans who will recognize one another as such, always possible.” —James Seale-Collazo, Faculty, Escuela Secondaria, University of Puerto Rico
 
“An emotional glimpse into a lifetime anti-racism journey. Non-profit board members, government leaders and executives from all sectors will be transformed by Wendy’s journey and her painfully earned pearls of wisdom on the effort to become an anti-racist white person.” —Sue Gallagher, Chief Innovation Officer,Children’s Services Council of Broward County, FL
 
“In this deeply researched and unflinchingly thoughtful account, Sanford seeks to educate, not castigate, and the narrative force of her story is compelling in its own right. This book is a clear-eyed and riveting gift to those of us who would rather try to repair than ignore this country’s tattered history of exploitation. Sanford's work is uplifting in its openness. In less accomplished hands, this might be an exercise in hand-wringing and self-doubt, but Wendy Sanford is a confident and authoritative narrator who makes this timely book at once accessible, gripping and instructive.”  —Robin Hemley, Author of Borderline Citizen, Dispatches from The Outskirts of Nationhood
 
“Ms. Sanford’s story is a necessary read for today’s young white people, especially college students interested in Africana Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, and Sociology courses. Above all, this remarkable book is a moving testimony for all who believe in fairness and racial healing.”  —Pam Brooks, Associate Professor, Africana Studies Department, Oberlin College,Author of Boycotts, Buses and Passes: Black Women's Resistance in the U.S. South and South Africa