The Yellow House

Author: Sarah Monique Broom

Genre: Memoir

Publication Date: 2019

Introduction

In a memoir spanning four generations of a New Orleans family, Sarah Broom situates her experience of Hurricane Katrina (August 2005) and its aftermath within the history of the city, making wider observations about how America continues to fail its Black citizens. Broom’s story centers around the Yellow House, a shotgun house in New Orleans East. Once a place of pride, the home gradually deteriorates, plagued by a sinking foundation and flooded by storms, until it becomes a source of shame. Failures in city policies and disaster response contribute to the massive flooding during Katrina and the dispersal of its residents. The Yellow House is torn down. Left with an empty lot, Broom considers the idea of home and the enduring pull of family.