The Brown Babies (and the woman who stepped in to save them)
The feedback I’ve gotten for The Weather Officer has moved me beyond words. Releasing my debut book into the wind has been pretty scary, but so far the response has been amazing (and I’m keeping my fingers crossed).
Readers have been surprised to discover that the plot goes beyond the military, weather, and science; that in between the lines there’s heartfelt stories of family, belonging, and love. Specifically, there’s been a lot of curiosity about the scenes that describe the plight of Germany’s postwar Brown Babies.
I won’t go into the details of the book’s storyline. There’ll be no spoilers here. However, I do want to shed some light on this important piece of history that’s intertwined with my family, yet remains unknown to so many people.
So, who were the Brown Babies?
Well, they were the 5,000 to 7,000 mixed-race children born to German women and Black American GIs in the decade following World War II. Overall, there were upwards of 100,000 children born to German women and Allied soldiers (most of them American) during the occupation years. The German people referred to these mixed-race children as Mischlingskinder. America called them Brown Babies.
Brown Babies were not readily accepted into society. For the German people, these mixed-race “occupation children” served as a reminder that their nation had been conquered. At a time when anti-Blackness was still deeply rooted, these were children of the enemy.
While some of the White soldiers did marry the women pregnant with their children, interracial marriages were viewed unfavorably by both Germany and the US. With few exceptions, marriage petitions submitted by Black-White couples were denied.
It should also be noted that many American GIs of all races had wives or girlfriends back in the States. Others never even knew they fathered a child, and some of the men were simply indifferent about it. Once these soldiers finished their tours in Germany, the women were left behind—left to endure the stigma of being unwed mothers—and those who gave birth to mixed-race children were made to feel the heaviest shame.
Ostracized in their communities, the mothers of Brown Babies were called whores, n-word lovers, and they were fired from their jobs or kicked out of their homes. Since Germany was still rebuilding from the ravages of war, widespread poverty was prevalent, especially among women.
Struggling with economic hardship and society’s harsh judgement, the mothers of Brown Babies found themselves unable or unwilling to raise their children, ultimately surrendering them to group homes or orphanages run by the Catholic Church.
Enter a woman named Mabel Grammer.
Grammer was a Black American journalist and socialite who accompanied her husband, a US Army officer, to Mannheim, Germany when he was stationed there in 1950. Grammer yearned to practice her Catholic faith by doing something worthwhile in the local community. After a chance meeting with a group of nuns, she visited an orphanage and was shocked to discover the large number of mixed-race children who were housed there.
She learned that orphaned Brown Babies had a slim chance of being adopted by German families, and the children who “aged out” were declared wards of the state; assigned to manufacturing jobs in the factories to support the country’s postwar recovery. Knowing these children faced a future of persecution, Grammer immediately took on their cause, and found her life’s purpose.
She created a one-woman adoption agency, working tirelessly with the US and German governments. Being a well-known journalist, she began writing about the plight of the Brown Babies, and her articles were published in the Black American press. She also reached out to Black military families that were stationed in Germany. Not only that, but Grammer (who was unable to bear children of her own) and her husband ultimately adopted 12 mixed-race children themselves.
Through her Brown Babies Plan, Grammer facilitated the adoptions of 500 mixed-race orphans into Black families during the 1950s, even arranging for Scandinavian Airlines to transport children from Germany to their new homes in the States. While the plan was largely successful, there were some snags.
Civil rights groups argued that poor Black children residing in the Jim Crow South had a greater need for assistance, as compared to half-White children overseas. What’s more, Grammer was criticized for not properly vetting the adoptive parents who lived in the US.
This occurred after it was revealed that one couple, Edward and Hattie Cardwell, took in five adoptees, and allegedly inflicted emotional trauma on their children. In a 2010 documentary, the couple’s son, Daniel, described his parents as being “cold and distant,” explaining how they withheld affection and forced him and his siblings to work long hours on the family’s farm.
While this was an extreme and heartbreaking outcome, the majority of Brown Babies were placed in loving homes. Invariably though, toward the end of the 1950s the German government halted adoptions to the US.
Why?
America’s racial violence, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement was front and center, and the world was watching. In fact, Germany had integrated Black children into its school system before the US had done so. The hypocrisy was loud. Deeming America a hostile place for Brown Babies, the German government ended its partnership, and instead began to arrange adoptions within Denmark.
Despite the things that were out of her control, history shows that Mabel Grammer made a tremendous, life-changing difference for hundreds of children, including her own. After she and her family left Germany, they settled in the Washington, DC area, and in 1968, she and her husband were recognized with a humanitarian award, given to them by Pope Paul VI.
Grammer died in 2002 at the age of 87, yet she continues to be recognized by those she touched, directly and indirectly. In 2023, a German artist honored her with a larger-than-life mural in the town of Mannheim-Feudenheim. And from what I understand, a historical-fiction novel based on Grammer and her Brown Babies Plan will be published by Simon & Schuster’s 37 Ink imprint early next year.
It’s truly a remarkable story, and I’m so glad these beautiful children and Mabel Grammer are getting the long-overdue attention and place in history that they deserve.
The Weather Officer is AVAILABLE NOW! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has purchased the book. And WELCOME, new BIOS & BACKSTORIES subscribers!
Thank you for this. I have a friend in her mid-60s who was a brown baby. She was adopted by a wonderful family in the USA.
Wow I loved reading about this. Definitely want to read more.