Mabel Grammer (1915 June 5, 2002) was an
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
journalist. Her "
Brown Baby Plan" led to the adoption of 500 mixed race German orphans after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
Early life
Grammer was born in
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is a resort city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Garland County. The city is located in the Ouachita Mountains among the U.S. Interior Highlands, and is set among several natural hot springs for which the city is ...
to Pearl and Edward Treadwell. As a child she suffered from
peritonitis
Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part or ...
, which ruptured her appendix. After she recovered, she found her illness left her infertile.
She graduated from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...
. During the 1940s she was a civil rights activist and wrote for the ''
Washington Afro-American.''
Germany
She married Oscar Grammer in 1950, and moved to
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
, Germany with him when he was stationed there by the United States military. While there, Grammer visited orphanages and learned that mixed German and African American children were not being adopted because of the stigma against mixed race children. She began adopting 12 children over the years that she lived in Germany.
Grammer publicized the issue in the United States, writing regular announcements and articles in the ''Afro-American'', a
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
newspaper, from 1951 to 1954. She encouraged African American families to adopt these German children, calling it the "Brown Baby Plan". She arranged for the adoption of German children into American families, working with so many German organizations that it is difficult to count how many children she helped.
Working with the
Refugee Relief Act
On August 7, 1953, President Eisenhower signed the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, also known as the Emergency Migration Act, into law to provide relief for certain refugees, orphans, and other purposes. This act was mainly intended for people from Sou ...
,
International Social Service, and American international adoption agencies generated a lot of
red tape
Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to ...
, so she acted as a private agency, simplifying the process for German orphanages and prospective parents. This also shielded parents from those at American adoption agencies who discriminated against African Americans.
Her work was viewed very favorably by the German press, who called her "Mommie Mabel, the mother of the colored occupation babies".
However, she was criticized by the German Child Welfare Office because she did not have a system in place or connections with American social welfare services to check up on the children after they were adopted. She was also criticized by American adoption agencies for the same reason.
In 1965, her family returned to the United States and settled in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
In 1968, Grammer received a humanitarian award from
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
.
Her adopted daughter
Nadja West became the first Black and 44th
Surgeon General of the United States Army
The Surgeon General of the United States Army is the senior-most officer of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD). By policy, the Surgeon General (TSG) serves as Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) as well as head of the ...
and a Commanding General of the
United States Army Medical Command
The U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) is a direct reporting unit of the U.S. Army that formerly provided command and control of the Army's fixed-facility medical, dental, and veterinary treatment facilities, providing preventive care, medical ...
.
Grammer died of
hypertension on June 5, 2002.
See also
*
Miki Sawada
was a Japanese social worker popularly known as the mother of 2,000 American Japanese mixed orphans.
Early life
She was born in Tokyo, Japan on September 19, 1901. She was the oldest daughter of Baron Hisaya Iwasaki, who was known as the ric ...
, who did similar work with mixed race orphans in Japan
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammer, Mabel
1915 births
2002 deaths
African-American Catholics
African-American journalists
American journalists
American women journalists
Ohio State University alumni
People from Hot Springs, Arkansas
20th-century African-American writers
American expatriates in Germany