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Speaker 1: Pushkin.

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Speaker 2: I have a distant memory of being in a car

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Speaker 2: riding that was by my first car trip.

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Speaker 1: Leon Lomax was just three years old when dressed in

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Speaker 1: a red English made suit and cap, he'd flown unaccompanied

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Speaker 1: across the Atlantic and arrived on US soil. He was

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Speaker 1: traveling light, caring nothing but a toy and his nightclothes,

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Speaker 1: and when he arrived he was something of a celebrity.

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Speaker 2: They said that I was more handsome than Joe Lewis,

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Speaker 2: and everybody looked up to Joe Lewis because he beat

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Speaker 2: Max Smelling, I think for the world championship in boxing.

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Speaker 1: Leon's arrival was big news. Brown baby adopted. The Pittsburgh Courier,

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Speaker 1: the foremost African American paper, jubulantly declared the.

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Speaker 2: White news press they weren't so excited about it, but

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Speaker 2: the black news media was excited because it had to

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Speaker 2: do with black soldiers.

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Speaker 1: The Courier coined the term brown babies to describe children

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Speaker 1: of mixed ethnic heritage who'd been born to African American

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Speaker 1: soldiers and white European women during and just after the

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Speaker 1: Second World War. It's estimated that there were two thousand

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Speaker 1: so called brown babies and Leon was reportedly the first

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Speaker 1: to be brought to live with an American couple. He

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Speaker 1: had spent some of his early years in a children's home,

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Speaker 1: which was all too common for children born into his circumstances.

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Speaker 1: But around nineteen forty eight, and after repeated attempts, Leon's

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Speaker 1: father was finally given the green light to bring his

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Speaker 1: son over to Ohio, Leon embarked on a new life.

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Speaker 1: A happy ending was not assured, however, and trouble was

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Speaker 1: already brewing. I'm halle Riubinhold you're listening to bad women

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Speaker 1: the blackout Ripper. We're used to the romantic tales of

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Speaker 1: dashing American soldiers who fell in love and married British girls,

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Speaker 1: the gi brides, But in this bonus episode, we'll focus

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Speaker 1: on the less well explored experience of women who fell

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Speaker 1: not for white but for black American soldiers, and how segregation, racism,

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Speaker 1: and prejudice blighted the lives of their children. In early

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Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, the first American troops arrived on the

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Speaker 1: shores of northern Ireland to join the fight against Nazi Germany.

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Speaker 1: Several thousand gis and a small number of nurses too.

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Speaker 1: According to Sir Archibald Sinclair, who greeted these soldiers on

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Speaker 1: behalf of the British government. Their arrival marked a new

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Speaker 1: stage in the World War and a gloomy portent for Hitler.

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Speaker 1: Around three million American servicemen would eventually pass through the

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Speaker 1: UK over the course of the war, and hundreds of

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Speaker 1: thousands of them were African American. Many of those African

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Speaker 1: American soldiers came from states in the South where they

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Speaker 1: were subject to statutes that legalized racial segregation, known as

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Speaker 1: the Jim Crow Laws, and that segregation followed these soldiers

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Speaker 1: into the army. Black troops were placed in separate barracks,

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Speaker 1: They ate away from white troops, and they had their

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Speaker 1: own blood banks that even on the operating table, the

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Speaker 1: races would not mix. The US Army imported this injustice

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Speaker 1: to the UK.

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Speaker 3: Black eyes aren't allowed to bear arms in Britain. They

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Speaker 3: do all the dirty work, really, they do the driving,

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Speaker 3: the cooking, the cleaning.

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Speaker 1: This is Lucy Bland, a professor of social and cultural

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Speaker 1: history at angli Uskan University and an expert on the

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Speaker 1: history of interracial relationships in Great Britain.

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Speaker 3: I think people are often drawn to things that relate

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Speaker 3: to their own lives. My father married a woman from

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Speaker 3: Guyana he left my mother, so they were in a

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Speaker 3: mixed relationship. Her daughter from her first husband is black.

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Speaker 3: I have an adopted daughter from Guatemala. So mixedness, both

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Speaker 3: interracial relations and mixedness as an identity, are there in

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Speaker 3: my own family. So I was kind of interested in

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Speaker 3: that already.

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Speaker 1: Lucy found an interviewed the children of black Gis and

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Speaker 1: white British women for her book Britain's Brown Babies. For

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Speaker 1: many of them, people like Leon Lomax, it was the

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Speaker 1: first time they'd shared their stories.

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Speaker 3: What was so incredible is that many of them said, look,

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Speaker 3: I haven't told anybody this. It's so great to have

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Speaker 3: someone who's really interested in my story.

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Speaker 1: Lucy's research also showed just how rigorously the US Army

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Speaker 1: enforced Jim Crow style segregation, not only inside but outside

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Speaker 1: its bases in the UK.

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Speaker 3: So clearly they are doing different jobs and they live

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Speaker 3: in different barracks, but also areas of leisure like pubs

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Speaker 3: and dances. They segregate those and certain towns out of bands.

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Speaker 3: And the rationale is the tension over the black gis

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Speaker 3: having relations with white women.

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Speaker 1: Britain certainly had its own history of racism, but it

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Speaker 1: didn't have such official and overt policies of segregation.

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Speaker 3: The Brits are actually often quite appalled by this segregation.

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Speaker 3: Not that the British aren't racists, but they are quite

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Speaker 3: horrified by the avert racist attitudes in the way that

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Speaker 3: they are kept apart like that.

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Speaker 1: Still, no official stand was taken against segregation by the British,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes the need to maintain good relations with a

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Speaker 1: crucial ally meant that the policy was enforced de facto

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Speaker 1: by the British people. Royoty, a black American war correspondent,

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Speaker 1: noted that when the manager of a restaurant was questioned

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Speaker 1: about refusing service to a black soldier, he had a

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Speaker 1: ready answer. White Americans had warned him they would boycott

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Speaker 1: his place if people of color were served there. At

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Speaker 1: the same time, black troops were often received warmly by

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Speaker 1: the locals in towns and villages where they were posted.

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Speaker 3: And they ask, you know, about attitudes towards the Americans,

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Speaker 3: and they do say, you know, actually, those black Americans

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Speaker 3: are much nicer than the whites, who just sort of

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Speaker 3: go on at us about having pathetic little houses and

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Speaker 3: we don't have raiders, and we don't have proper cars,

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Speaker 3: and we don't have this and the other.

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Speaker 1: It would be wrong to oversimplify race relations. But on

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Speaker 1: the whole, British people said they found the black soldiers

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Speaker 1: to be kinder and more courteous than their white counterparts,

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Speaker 1: who seemed comparatively conceited and boastful. White British women in

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Speaker 1: particular embraced the black geys, and not just for their

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Speaker 1: good manners.

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Speaker 3: They knew the Lindy hop which came from Harlem, because

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Speaker 3: there were some who were coming from New York, and

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Speaker 3: they also brought their bands, and I think the women

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Speaker 3: really enjoyed this. So I think it's hard for us

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Speaker 3: to appreciate that in the forties the main leisure pursuit

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Speaker 3: for young women was dancing. It was cheap and something

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Speaker 3: they did on a regular basis young and married women.

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Speaker 3: So the black gys on the whole would dance much

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Speaker 3: better than the white gys. They knew the moves, so yeah,

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Speaker 3: I think that was part of the attraction.

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Speaker 1: Dances would be held for black geys on one evening

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Speaker 1: and then for white geyes on another, and they were

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Speaker 1: fertile ground for budding room ants.

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Speaker 3: So there are quite a lot of interracial relationships we know.

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Speaker 3: But some families were very hostile on local people hostile.

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Speaker 3: Some were more accepting of this. It really depended, but

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Speaker 3: I think generally there was this idea that you had

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Speaker 3: to draw the line and that you know, actually it

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Speaker 3: was all very well being friendly towards them, but you

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Speaker 3: don't necessarily want them to go a step further. And

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Speaker 3: the women had relationships and had babies with them, this

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Speaker 3: was thought to be beyond the pair.

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Speaker 1: For its part, the British government tried to discourage these

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Speaker 1: relationships too. It compiled suggestions for ways of keeping black

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Speaker 1: g eyes and white women apart, but then marked the

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Speaker 1: document top secret and stored it away under lock and key.

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Speaker 1: The British couldn't afford to be too closely aligned with

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Speaker 1: America's racial segregation for such a move, which surely enraged

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Speaker 1: the millions of people of color who were fighting alongside

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Speaker 1: them for victory. But in some cases Britain did use

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Speaker 1: emergency wartime laws to prosecute luckless young women found with

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Speaker 1: black gis on actual us basis. Nonetheless, relationships continued to form.

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Speaker 2: They probably met at a dance or you know, some

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Speaker 2: type of social event like most of the gis did

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Speaker 2: with you know, the women over in England at the time.

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Speaker 1: Leon Lomax was told little about his parents' courtship, and I.

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Speaker 2: Don't know how long they were together or what the

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Speaker 2: circumstances were, but he knew the family, and the family

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Speaker 2: knew him because they used to call him Maxie. My

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Speaker 2: last name is Lomax, so that's probably just was a

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Speaker 2: nickname of him. But they knew about him, and he

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Speaker 2: must have had some kind of interaction with the rest

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Speaker 2: of the family.

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Speaker 1: Leon's f Vava, Corporal Oscar Leon Lomax, or Leon Senor,

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Speaker 1: already had a wife and child back home in Ohio

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Speaker 1: when he met Leon's mother, Maude Leon was born in

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Speaker 1: December nineteen forty five, after Leon Senior had returned to

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Speaker 1: the United States. American servicemen had to get permission from

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Speaker 1: an invariably white commanding officer to marry their girlfriends. While

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Speaker 1: white eyes were often granted such approval, black soldiers were

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Speaker 1: generally denied it, and sometimes they weren't even given the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to say goodbye to their partners before they were

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Speaker 1: shipped out. Thirty US states also still had anti missigenation

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Speaker 1: laws that forbade into racial marriage, and so when they

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Speaker 1: departed Britain at the end of the war, the US

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Speaker 1: Army left a raft of bereft single mothers in its wake.

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Speaker 1: Financial and social pressures often meant that these women weren't

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Speaker 1: able to keep their baby. This was the case for

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Speaker 1: Leon Lomax's mother Maude, who ultimately had to surrender her

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Speaker 1: son to a children's home.

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Speaker 3: Young single women who might be living at home, they

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Speaker 3: will get pressure not only from their parents and their relatives,

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Speaker 3: but often from a local priest or the mother and

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Speaker 3: baby herne. They often sent mother and baby homes who

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Speaker 3: would try and get this child off them.

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Speaker 1: Many mothers tried to keep their babies for as long

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Speaker 1: as possible, but child care facilities could refuse to take

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Speaker 1: children of mixed ethnic background, and without childcare it was

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Speaker 1: virtually impossible to work and earn the necessary living to

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Speaker 1: support one's self in one's child. Very few of these

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Speaker 1: children were then adopted. Adoption societies assumed that no one

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Speaker 1: would want to take them, and even though there was

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Speaker 1: a long standing Black community in Britain, little effort was

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Speaker 1: made to find black couples or families who might be

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Speaker 1: interested in adoption. Either. Babies were bounced between foster families,

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Speaker 1: and like Leon, they ended up in children's institutions, some

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Speaker 1: of which categorize them as handicapped simply because of the

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Speaker 1: color of their skin. Unsurprisingly, such homes did little to

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Speaker 1: nurture the happiness and wellbeing of these children.

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Speaker 3: You don't have a sense of being loved, you don't

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Speaker 3: know what a family is, you don't experience that. And

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Speaker 3: then they just get thrown out effectively, and they don't

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Speaker 3: know how to live in the world. They get no

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Speaker 3: preparation for that. Some of them become homeless, some go

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Speaker 3: to prison. Those homes were pretty awful. I mean all

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Speaker 3: the kids there were just hit all the time in

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Speaker 3: the face and completely uncalled for behavior by quite sadistic people.

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Speaker 3: Because I think actually some of these homes attracted people

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Speaker 3: who probably had no skills, no training, wasn't very well paid,

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Speaker 3: and they had power to do what they liked. Some

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Speaker 3: of the stories are horrendous.

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Speaker 1: Over in the US, Leon I had confessed to his

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Speaker 1: wife Betty that he had a child in England. She

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Speaker 1: told the Pittsburgh Courier about that conversation.

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Speaker 4: He said, I've been gone a long time, about three years.

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Speaker 4: That's a long time for a fellow to be away

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Speaker 4: from his wife. In the meantime, I met a girl.

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Speaker 4: I was very lonesome. So what I'm trying.

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Speaker 1: To say is that there's to be a child.

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Speaker 4: Betty. You don't have to answer right now, but would

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Speaker 4: you agree to take this child?

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Speaker 1: Betty grappled with this dilemma. Inside her, A private war

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Speaker 1: was being weighed.

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Speaker 4: She said, My job and friends kept me busy all day.

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Speaker 4: But at night, whenever I was alone, I did a

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Speaker 4: lot of thinking. I knew that a divorce was out

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Speaker 4: of the question. Besides, there was the other son to

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Speaker 4: think about. If I ever felt any resentment.

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Speaker 1: My husband never knew. Eventually, in early nineteen forty six,

219
00:14:17,836 --> 00:14:22,476
Speaker 1: Betty told her husband she would welcome the child. His honesty,

220
00:14:22,596 --> 00:14:24,356
Speaker 1: she said, had impressed her.

221
00:14:25,236 --> 00:14:29,316
Speaker 4: He was surprised, but it made him happy. We wrote

222
00:14:29,356 --> 00:14:32,716
Speaker 4: to the British Embassy, the American Red Cross, the American

223
00:14:32,796 --> 00:14:38,436
Speaker 4: State Department, with no results. Then we thought up another

224
00:14:38,516 --> 00:14:43,436
Speaker 4: idea bad women will be back after this shortbreak.

225
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Speaker 2: They started the search for me because I guess they

226
00:15:02,956 --> 00:15:06,316
Speaker 2: lost contact with my mother in England and so they

227
00:15:06,356 --> 00:15:10,756
Speaker 2: didn't really know where I was, Omar was in or anything.

228
00:15:10,876 --> 00:15:15,116
Speaker 2: So they happened to see something. I don't know where.

229
00:15:15,156 --> 00:15:18,396
Speaker 2: They saw this in a newspaper or magazine or something.

230
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Speaker 2: There was a doctor went Gate in Sussex. I believe

231
00:15:21,956 --> 00:15:26,036
Speaker 2: that asked the question, why didn't the US soldiers there

232
00:15:26,236 --> 00:15:29,476
Speaker 2: the black soldiers come and get their children. So they

233
00:15:29,476 --> 00:15:32,756
Speaker 2: got a hold of him and he helped locate where

234
00:15:32,756 --> 00:15:36,356
Speaker 2: I was. So that's where the process started of getting

235
00:15:36,356 --> 00:15:37,236
Speaker 2: me to America.

236
00:15:37,876 --> 00:15:41,676
Speaker 1: That process took three years and cost the equivalent of

237
00:15:41,836 --> 00:15:45,996
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars, but at last, Leon Jr. Was on

238
00:15:46,116 --> 00:15:49,436
Speaker 1: his way to the United States. When his new parents

239
00:15:49,556 --> 00:15:53,516
Speaker 1: arrived at LaGuardia Airport, they found him playing with staff

240
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Speaker 1: in the immigration office.

241
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Speaker 4: I thought he was the most adorable little boy.

242
00:16:00,156 --> 00:16:04,156
Speaker 1: Said Betty. It was New Year's Day and hopes were

243
00:16:04,276 --> 00:16:07,556
Speaker 1: high that a happy new chapter was beginning in Leon's life.

244
00:16:08,036 --> 00:16:12,036
Speaker 1: The Lomaxes appear to be the perfect family, bringing with

245
00:16:12,156 --> 00:16:15,036
Speaker 1: love and doting on the new edition to their fond

246
00:16:16,036 --> 00:16:20,876
Speaker 1: but behind closed doors, the cracks quickly began to appear.

247
00:16:25,836 --> 00:16:29,756
Speaker 5: My case was unusual because Mum decided that she would

248
00:16:29,756 --> 00:16:32,636
Speaker 5: not give us away. She decided to keep us.

249
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Speaker 1: This is Terry Harrison.

250
00:16:34,756 --> 00:16:38,116
Speaker 5: And here was an issue because at that time my

251
00:16:38,236 --> 00:16:42,356
Speaker 5: stepfather announced her real husband was still away fighting. Of course,

252
00:16:42,396 --> 00:16:45,956
Speaker 5: when he returned, he can imagine the bombshell which she

253
00:16:46,036 --> 00:16:46,876
Speaker 5: was only natural.

254
00:16:47,516 --> 00:16:51,276
Speaker 1: Likely On Terry and his twin sister, Susan were born

255
00:16:51,316 --> 00:16:54,356
Speaker 1: to a white British mother and a black gi father,

256
00:16:55,276 --> 00:16:59,356
Speaker 1: but unlikely on the pair stayed with their mother. She

257
00:16:59,836 --> 00:17:04,716
Speaker 1: was already married, but her husband, Charlie, was somewhat surprised

258
00:17:04,756 --> 00:17:08,156
Speaker 1: by the arrival of two new children while he was

259
00:17:08,196 --> 00:17:12,916
Speaker 1: away at war. Eventually, Charlie moved out of the family home.

260
00:17:13,476 --> 00:17:17,036
Speaker 1: He'd visit his own children every day, but Terry and

261
00:17:17,076 --> 00:17:21,436
Speaker 1: Susan were a constant and unwelcome reminder of his wife's infidelity,

262
00:17:21,916 --> 00:17:24,996
Speaker 1: so he kept them at arm's length because.

263
00:17:24,716 --> 00:17:28,476
Speaker 5: He found it very difficult to accept, and as a result,

264
00:17:28,916 --> 00:17:31,116
Speaker 5: my sister and I relationship with him was not as

265
00:17:31,196 --> 00:17:34,476
Speaker 5: it should be. But it wasn't atful or bitter. It

266
00:17:34,596 --> 00:17:38,916
Speaker 5: was just a lack of love and caring and warmth.

267
00:17:39,396 --> 00:17:41,396
Speaker 5: He came in the house and what have you, but

268
00:17:41,956 --> 00:17:45,276
Speaker 5: it was as though we weren't there. We were the ghosts,

269
00:17:45,276 --> 00:17:46,356
Speaker 5: but you didn't see us there.

270
00:17:47,756 --> 00:17:51,156
Speaker 1: Terry, Susan and their mother, Edna, lived in the pleasant

271
00:17:51,156 --> 00:17:55,076
Speaker 1: country village of Gadsby, but life for them was far

272
00:17:55,116 --> 00:17:59,356
Speaker 1: from picture perfect. Charlie wasn't the only person to shun them.

273
00:18:00,036 --> 00:18:05,156
Speaker 5: Many of my mum's peers would often ridly cull her

274
00:18:05,396 --> 00:18:10,076
Speaker 5: for having brown babies. Mum did suffer and that affected

275
00:18:10,116 --> 00:18:13,276
Speaker 5: me in some respects because I always stuck it from Mum.

276
00:18:13,836 --> 00:18:16,716
Speaker 1: When Terry and his mother walked down the street, the

277
00:18:16,836 --> 00:18:21,996
Speaker 1: villagers shouted racist slurs and menacingly banged on trash can lids.

278
00:18:22,676 --> 00:18:26,876
Speaker 1: Some crossed the street to avoid the boy. Close relatives

279
00:18:26,916 --> 00:18:31,076
Speaker 1: were cruel too. Terry's aunts and uncles treated the young

280
00:18:31,116 --> 00:18:36,036
Speaker 1: twins with utter disdain and constantly reproached Edna for bringing

281
00:18:36,036 --> 00:18:37,436
Speaker 1: the children into the family.

282
00:18:37,996 --> 00:18:40,996
Speaker 5: There was a lot of redeentment and anger towards Mum.

283
00:18:41,796 --> 00:18:46,036
Speaker 5: She came through that, but she cared about Susan and

284
00:18:46,076 --> 00:18:49,636
Speaker 5: I of the way we would react because as we

285
00:18:49,756 --> 00:18:52,636
Speaker 5: got a little older, we began to realize that we

286
00:18:52,636 --> 00:18:56,396
Speaker 5: were different only by a skin color. Because basically being

287
00:18:56,476 --> 00:18:59,996
Speaker 5: brought up in a white family, it became difficult, certainly

288
00:19:00,476 --> 00:19:04,556
Speaker 5: for me to understand why people were calling me different names,

289
00:19:04,596 --> 00:19:08,076
Speaker 5: which I didn't really understand. And they used to sort

290
00:19:08,076 --> 00:19:10,876
Speaker 5: of do dances of going back to Africa. But we

291
00:19:10,876 --> 00:19:13,956
Speaker 5: didn't understand. We didn't know, but we knew by the tone.

292
00:19:13,996 --> 00:19:15,356
Speaker 5: It wasn't a very nice thing.

293
00:19:15,956 --> 00:19:19,756
Speaker 1: Feeling white but constantly reminded of the color of his skin.

294
00:19:20,476 --> 00:19:24,876
Speaker 1: Terry struggled with his identity and felt a profound sense

295
00:19:24,956 --> 00:19:26,916
Speaker 1: of dislocation when we.

296
00:19:26,876 --> 00:19:30,316
Speaker 5: Went to school. Even I remember some of the school teachers,

297
00:19:30,476 --> 00:19:33,916
Speaker 5: and there were white school teachers. I remember sometimes they

298
00:19:33,996 --> 00:19:38,796
Speaker 5: used to talk about Africa and painting faces and doing dances.

299
00:19:38,836 --> 00:19:42,156
Speaker 5: I remember once they wanted to see an African dance

300
00:19:42,196 --> 00:19:44,476
Speaker 5: and the teacher pointed to me for some reason and

301
00:19:44,516 --> 00:19:46,036
Speaker 5: could you dance in Africa? I didn't know what an

302
00:19:46,036 --> 00:19:49,716
Speaker 5: African dance were like, but nevertheless I did it what

303
00:19:49,796 --> 00:19:53,516
Speaker 5: I thought it was. But they're the thing that I remember.

304
00:19:53,796 --> 00:19:55,076
Speaker 6: What why?

305
00:19:55,276 --> 00:19:55,516
Speaker 7: Why?

306
00:19:55,556 --> 00:19:55,636
Speaker 8: Me?

307
00:19:56,236 --> 00:19:59,676
Speaker 1: But Edna's love remained strong and it was a source

308
00:19:59,716 --> 00:20:01,716
Speaker 1: of comfort amid the hostility.

309
00:20:02,276 --> 00:20:05,316
Speaker 5: My mother never saw color even when we used to

310
00:20:05,476 --> 00:20:08,356
Speaker 5: or say Terry and to my Susan, and I love

311
00:20:08,396 --> 00:20:11,356
Speaker 5: you so much, and that was all I wanted, as

312
00:20:11,396 --> 00:20:13,236
Speaker 5: we all do want that bit of love and caring,

313
00:20:13,596 --> 00:20:15,716
Speaker 5: and so I had a great respect for them. And

314
00:20:15,996 --> 00:20:18,116
Speaker 5: she stood her a ground, a very strong lady.

315
00:20:18,636 --> 00:20:22,716
Speaker 1: All the same, Terry felt that something was missing, that

316
00:20:22,796 --> 00:20:25,636
Speaker 1: there was a part of himself he needed to examine

317
00:20:26,116 --> 00:20:26,916
Speaker 1: and explore.

318
00:20:27,676 --> 00:20:30,436
Speaker 5: I wanted to know who was my father, and she

319
00:20:30,596 --> 00:20:33,236
Speaker 5: mentioned that he was a black American black and gi

320
00:20:33,836 --> 00:20:36,316
Speaker 5: But I had no role model. I didn't have a dad,

321
00:20:36,676 --> 00:20:38,956
Speaker 5: And at that stage in my life I began to

322
00:20:39,836 --> 00:20:43,676
Speaker 5: look at black role models of famous people like Winn

323
00:20:43,796 --> 00:20:47,196
Speaker 5: for that well, the great singers and the great sportsman

324
00:20:47,636 --> 00:20:50,116
Speaker 5: jesse Orians. Because they were black and their sort, I

325
00:20:50,156 --> 00:20:55,196
Speaker 5: had some common denominator. I began to feel some kind

326
00:20:55,236 --> 00:20:58,236
Speaker 5: of empathy with them, and all of most of them

327
00:20:58,356 --> 00:21:02,916
Speaker 5: were from the United States, so secretly I used to think, good, oh,

328
00:21:02,916 --> 00:21:05,996
Speaker 5: the United States, because them days you never had any

329
00:21:06,036 --> 00:21:08,396
Speaker 5: black figures in books. They was all white.

330
00:21:09,236 --> 00:21:12,356
Speaker 1: Excelled at sports, and when he left school he joined

331
00:21:12,396 --> 00:21:15,836
Speaker 1: the Royal Marines, married and had a family of his own.

332
00:21:16,756 --> 00:21:20,156
Speaker 1: Still there was always that nagging question in the back

333
00:21:20,196 --> 00:21:24,796
Speaker 1: of his mind, that sense of something missing. Who was

334
00:21:24,876 --> 00:21:30,396
Speaker 1: his real father. When Edna passed away in nineteen sixty five,

335
00:21:30,996 --> 00:21:35,076
Speaker 1: Terry got closer to ann answer. Cleaning out one of

336
00:21:35,076 --> 00:21:39,356
Speaker 1: her old drawers, he came across a photograph, a picture

337
00:21:39,596 --> 00:21:45,076
Speaker 1: of a gravestone bearing the name John Lars Hendrix. Why

338
00:21:45,116 --> 00:21:48,596
Speaker 1: had she held on to this old snapshot? Could Hendrix

339
00:21:48,716 --> 00:21:57,876
Speaker 1: possibly be his father? According to the Pittsburgh Courier, Leon

340
00:21:57,996 --> 00:22:02,516
Speaker 1: Lomax's arrival in the United States represented the pinnacle of

341
00:22:02,916 --> 00:22:06,236
Speaker 1: a woman's sincere love for her XGI husband.

342
00:22:06,836 --> 00:22:11,476
Speaker 6: It's a story of patients and devotion, a story that

343
00:22:11,596 --> 00:22:15,036
Speaker 6: is climaxed by a happy ending, even though it had

344
00:22:15,076 --> 00:22:19,916
Speaker 6: a surprise beginning back in the middle of nineteen forty five.

345
00:22:20,836 --> 00:22:24,676
Speaker 1: But the story was far from over, and for Leon,

346
00:22:25,076 --> 00:22:28,556
Speaker 1: settling into life in Fremont, Ohio was tough.

347
00:22:29,076 --> 00:22:31,556
Speaker 2: I don't know how soon I developed asthma after I

348
00:22:31,596 --> 00:22:33,756
Speaker 2: got to the United States, but at one point I

349
00:22:33,796 --> 00:22:36,596
Speaker 2: thought I was going to die because I couldn't breathe.

350
00:22:37,076 --> 00:22:40,796
Speaker 2: I missed my whole first year of school because of asthma.

351
00:22:41,436 --> 00:22:43,596
Speaker 2: I think that was just due to stress.

352
00:22:44,516 --> 00:22:48,556
Speaker 1: Despite his efforts to bring about the adoption, Leon's father

353
00:22:48,996 --> 00:22:53,476
Speaker 1: was often cold and distant with the boy. His stepmother,

354
00:22:53,796 --> 00:22:57,436
Speaker 1: who struggled with Leon's presence in the family home, could

355
00:22:57,516 --> 00:22:59,276
Speaker 1: also be cruel.

356
00:22:59,476 --> 00:23:01,836
Speaker 2: I think she was fine with it at first, but

357
00:23:02,316 --> 00:23:07,076
Speaker 2: my father was always a philander, and he always had

358
00:23:07,436 --> 00:23:11,956
Speaker 2: other women of the day she died, basically, and he

359
00:23:12,116 --> 00:23:14,716
Speaker 2: wasn't around a lot, but she was the one that

360
00:23:14,876 --> 00:23:18,756
Speaker 2: was around me most of the time. So I noticed

361
00:23:18,756 --> 00:23:21,836
Speaker 2: a change when I was probably in about the third

362
00:23:22,276 --> 00:23:25,516
Speaker 2: grade or second grade. I noticed a change in her

363
00:23:26,116 --> 00:23:28,876
Speaker 2: that she seemed like she was a little bit more

364
00:23:29,116 --> 00:23:32,356
Speaker 2: strict with me. One aunt told me that she was

365
00:23:32,796 --> 00:23:35,956
Speaker 2: kind of taken out on me what she felt about

366
00:23:35,956 --> 00:23:39,276
Speaker 2: my father, And I think she felt resentful that, you know,

367
00:23:39,396 --> 00:23:43,436
Speaker 2: she had sacrificed so much to be my stepmother and

368
00:23:43,476 --> 00:23:47,196
Speaker 2: then he still was doing what he was doing. That's

369
00:23:47,236 --> 00:23:50,596
Speaker 2: why I think she got sometimes physically hard. I was

370
00:23:50,636 --> 00:23:54,276
Speaker 2: really angry as a child. I remember cutting my finger

371
00:23:54,396 --> 00:23:57,236
Speaker 2: one time when she told me to go wash the dishes,

372
00:23:57,276 --> 00:23:59,196
Speaker 2: and I grabbed a knife and I stuck it into

373
00:23:59,396 --> 00:24:01,436
Speaker 2: front of the sink and the knife just slipped up

374
00:24:01,436 --> 00:24:03,476
Speaker 2: my hand. I was seven years old at the time,

375
00:24:03,516 --> 00:24:06,036
Speaker 2: so I had a lot of anger inside of me

376
00:24:06,156 --> 00:24:08,836
Speaker 2: about just a lot of things. I think.

377
00:24:12,556 --> 00:24:21,676
Speaker 1: Bad women will be back in just a moment. Leon's

378
00:24:21,716 --> 00:24:24,796
Speaker 1: stepmother passed away when he was just eight years old,

379
00:24:25,316 --> 00:24:28,676
Speaker 1: and he was shunted between relatives, living with his aunts.

380
00:24:28,756 --> 00:24:29,636
Speaker 1: And his grandmother.

381
00:24:30,316 --> 00:24:32,796
Speaker 2: I had so much movement in my life. You know.

382
00:24:32,876 --> 00:24:36,516
Speaker 2: I started out being abandoned by my mother, and then

383
00:24:36,596 --> 00:24:39,636
Speaker 2: when I got to the United States, my stepmother died

384
00:24:39,676 --> 00:24:41,756
Speaker 2: when I was eight years old. So I only lived

385
00:24:41,756 --> 00:24:44,796
Speaker 2: with my father and my stepmother for five years after

386
00:24:44,836 --> 00:24:48,436
Speaker 2: I got here. And then my father left right after

387
00:24:48,516 --> 00:24:51,956
Speaker 2: she died, so he abandoned me and left me with

388
00:24:52,036 --> 00:24:55,156
Speaker 2: my relatives to be raised. So I was going through

389
00:24:55,156 --> 00:24:58,356
Speaker 2: a process of a lot of change when I was younger.

390
00:24:58,596 --> 00:25:00,916
Speaker 2: I think I was kind of a reticent of a

391
00:25:00,956 --> 00:25:03,236
Speaker 2: lot of things and a lot of people. They said

392
00:25:03,276 --> 00:25:06,556
Speaker 2: that I was reserved or shy or whatever, and I

393
00:25:06,636 --> 00:25:09,916
Speaker 2: just didn't gravitate to a lot of people. Well, some

394
00:25:09,956 --> 00:25:12,836
Speaker 2: of my cousins that always tease me and you know,

395
00:25:13,436 --> 00:25:15,716
Speaker 2: would just make fun of me. And I had a

396
00:25:15,796 --> 00:25:18,556
Speaker 2: cousin of mine said that I was a mixed up mess.

397
00:25:19,156 --> 00:25:23,476
Speaker 1: In spite of his cousin's jibes, his stepmother's coldness, his

398
00:25:23,556 --> 00:25:29,516
Speaker 1: father's absence, and instability of constant upheaval, Leon is glad

399
00:25:29,716 --> 00:25:31,876
Speaker 1: that his father brought him to the United States.

400
00:25:32,276 --> 00:25:34,516
Speaker 2: Bringing me over to America, he gave me a sense

401
00:25:34,556 --> 00:25:38,036
Speaker 2: of family, whereas I might not have had that since

402
00:25:38,076 --> 00:25:40,636
Speaker 2: over in England, I might have been in a children's

403
00:25:40,636 --> 00:25:44,436
Speaker 2: home for a long time, or foster care or foster

404
00:25:44,596 --> 00:25:47,356
Speaker 2: parents or whatever, you know, throughout my life, so it

405
00:25:47,356 --> 00:25:49,876
Speaker 2: would have been a lot different. So that's one thing

406
00:25:49,916 --> 00:25:52,996
Speaker 2: I'm grateful to my father and my family here in

407
00:25:53,036 --> 00:25:54,076
Speaker 2: America for.

408
00:25:54,436 --> 00:25:58,476
Speaker 1: But as with Terry, there was always something missing for Leon.

409
00:25:59,196 --> 00:26:02,796
Speaker 1: He never knew his mother, never understood why she gave

410
00:26:02,876 --> 00:26:06,756
Speaker 1: him up to a children's home to strangers.

411
00:26:07,076 --> 00:26:09,636
Speaker 2: And I always wondered why she didn't try to find me.

412
00:26:09,996 --> 00:26:13,036
Speaker 2: Then as I got old her, i'd start raising my

413
00:26:13,076 --> 00:26:16,116
Speaker 2: own family, and I just kind of put her, that

414
00:26:16,236 --> 00:26:20,156
Speaker 2: thought of her to the side until I finished raising

415
00:26:20,196 --> 00:26:24,436
Speaker 2: my family and I got almost fifty plus years old,

416
00:26:24,436 --> 00:26:27,236
Speaker 2: and I decided to find you out who she was.

417
00:26:27,996 --> 00:26:32,356
Speaker 1: And then after his father's death, Leon found a letter

418
00:26:32,756 --> 00:26:34,276
Speaker 1: among his belongings.

419
00:26:34,796 --> 00:26:37,676
Speaker 2: My mother was writing this letter to my dad stating

420
00:26:37,756 --> 00:26:41,796
Speaker 2: that he had promised to financially support her with my

421
00:26:41,916 --> 00:26:45,796
Speaker 2: birth and he didn't keep his promise. So she was

422
00:26:45,836 --> 00:26:49,316
Speaker 2: struggling to keep me because she couldn't afford me. She

423
00:26:49,436 --> 00:26:53,036
Speaker 2: was living with her her mother. She says, I can't

424
00:26:53,156 --> 00:26:57,836
Speaker 2: keep myself and Leon me on that amount. She was

425
00:26:57,916 --> 00:27:01,796
Speaker 2: talking about some money that I guess he has already sentner.

426
00:27:02,276 --> 00:27:04,836
Speaker 2: She said, I paid my mother what I owed her

427
00:27:05,316 --> 00:27:08,836
Speaker 2: out of it, so there wasn't a lot left. You

428
00:27:08,876 --> 00:27:12,316
Speaker 2: are as wrong as hell, she says, to think I

429
00:27:12,396 --> 00:27:15,876
Speaker 2: want to get rid of him. I'm his mother and

430
00:27:15,956 --> 00:27:19,596
Speaker 2: I love him very much, and I can't keep him.

431
00:27:20,236 --> 00:27:23,956
Speaker 2: So there's a part in here where it says that

432
00:27:24,556 --> 00:27:27,516
Speaker 2: she was changing my diaper or something, and I looked

433
00:27:27,596 --> 00:27:29,516
Speaker 2: up at her and I smiled at her for the

434
00:27:29,556 --> 00:27:32,436
Speaker 2: first time. It just kind of broke her heart that,

435
00:27:32,636 --> 00:27:34,276
Speaker 2: you know, she had to give me up.

436
00:27:34,996 --> 00:27:39,276
Speaker 1: This was a turning point for Leon. Understanding more about

437
00:27:39,276 --> 00:27:43,316
Speaker 1: his mother and her struggles had a profound effect on him.

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Speaker 2: This letter was so uplifting to my spirit and helped

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00:27:48,316 --> 00:27:54,436
Speaker 2: me define more about my mother and myself and everything

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00:27:54,476 --> 00:27:56,836
Speaker 2: in my life. I just wanted to talk to her,

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00:27:57,476 --> 00:27:59,156
Speaker 2: and I just wanted to find out what she was

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00:27:59,196 --> 00:27:59,756
Speaker 2: going through.

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00:28:00,676 --> 00:28:04,716
Speaker 1: Leon also discovered that he had a half sister, Pauline.

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00:28:05,236 --> 00:28:07,116
Speaker 1: When he spoke to her on the phone for the

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00:28:07,196 --> 00:28:11,996
Speaker 1: first time, she was flawed. She had no idea that

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00:28:12,076 --> 00:28:16,356
Speaker 1: Leon was even out there. Pauline and Leon have since

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00:28:16,396 --> 00:28:20,076
Speaker 1: grown close, going to visit their mother's grave together and

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00:28:20,156 --> 00:28:26,676
Speaker 1: talking about the woman Leon never knew. Stumbling upon that

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00:28:26,796 --> 00:28:29,996
Speaker 1: photo of a gravestone, the one bearing the name John

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00:28:30,076 --> 00:28:34,396
Speaker 1: Lars Hendrix, Terry Harrison knew he had to determine once

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00:28:34,516 --> 00:28:37,036
Speaker 1: and for all if he was connected to this man.

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Speaker 5: I went and wrote to the American War Graves Commission

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00:28:42,636 --> 00:28:46,716
Speaker 5: to see if this man was related to me. And

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Speaker 5: forgive me if I get emotional. Amazing one of the

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00:28:53,276 --> 00:28:56,476
Speaker 5: things that happened that this man was named Hendrix. When

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00:28:56,476 --> 00:28:59,116
Speaker 5: I worked for American War Graves Commission, I got back

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00:28:59,516 --> 00:29:02,956
Speaker 5: a big envelope full of papers which has been burnt

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00:29:02,956 --> 00:29:04,516
Speaker 5: around the ages is that it had been pulled out

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00:29:04,516 --> 00:29:08,156
Speaker 5: of fire and what it was the American Wargraves Center

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00:29:08,156 --> 00:29:10,876
Speaker 5: had been burnt down and then managed to retrieve this

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00:29:11,196 --> 00:29:14,356
Speaker 5: particular package. And in the package it was the way

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00:29:14,476 --> 00:29:17,636
Speaker 5: this man was died. And he died in a place

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00:29:17,676 --> 00:29:20,996
Speaker 5: called Butte Street in Wales, and he was shot by

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00:29:21,196 --> 00:29:24,636
Speaker 5: a white American policeman. But what was interesting within the

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00:29:24,756 --> 00:29:29,076
Speaker 5: parcel there was a letter of my mom's handwriting, and

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00:29:29,116 --> 00:29:31,716
Speaker 5: it was to the general conducting the court martial of

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00:29:31,756 --> 00:29:34,196
Speaker 5: the shooting, and it said, did you know that John

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00:29:34,276 --> 00:29:38,636
Speaker 5: Lynsandrix is the father of my two children. So that

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00:29:39,156 --> 00:29:42,956
Speaker 5: when I realized that this man must have been my father,

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00:29:43,516 --> 00:29:44,876
Speaker 5: and that was a great for me because it was

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00:29:44,916 --> 00:29:47,396
Speaker 5: a closure. And from then on I went straight away

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00:29:47,436 --> 00:29:49,756
Speaker 5: to where he was buried, and that was quite emotional day,

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00:29:50,036 --> 00:29:52,076
Speaker 5: and it was at some kind of closure.

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00:29:52,636 --> 00:29:54,556
Speaker 1: But life is seldom so simple.

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00:29:55,116 --> 00:29:57,556
Speaker 5: Every year I went down to see his grave. And

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00:29:57,636 --> 00:30:01,396
Speaker 5: it wasn't until a few years ago that I had

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00:30:01,436 --> 00:30:03,476
Speaker 5: an inquiry to do a DNA.

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00:30:03,236 --> 00:30:07,756
Speaker 1: Test to Terry's shop. There was no correlation between his

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00:30:07,956 --> 00:30:14,036
Speaker 1: DNA and the of John Lars Hendrix. He wasn't Terry's father.

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00:30:14,556 --> 00:30:20,396
Speaker 5: I felt. I felt absolutely deflated and emotional.

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00:30:20,876 --> 00:30:24,236
Speaker 1: But it did point to another match, and it went.

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00:30:24,116 --> 00:30:28,036
Speaker 5: To a person called vander Lee Ellis, and that was

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00:30:28,076 --> 00:30:31,076
Speaker 5: my father. He died in nineteen eighty five, so if

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00:30:31,116 --> 00:30:33,836
Speaker 5: I'd have known that, I perhaps could have met him.

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00:30:34,196 --> 00:30:37,036
Speaker 5: But what was interesting I also found that he had

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00:30:37,156 --> 00:30:41,716
Speaker 5: several children, and thankfully, in a few weeks time, I'm

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00:30:41,716 --> 00:30:46,356
Speaker 5: going to meet two sisters in New Jersey and South Carolina.

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00:30:46,396 --> 00:30:47,916
Speaker 5: And that to me is amazing.

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00:30:48,876 --> 00:30:53,156
Speaker 1: So in June twenty twenty two, Terry packed his bags,

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00:30:53,556 --> 00:30:56,876
Speaker 1: boarded a plane and crossed the Atlantic to meet his

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00:30:57,036 --> 00:31:01,316
Speaker 1: half sisters for the very first time. He sent us

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00:31:01,316 --> 00:31:03,436
Speaker 1: a voice note afterwards.

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00:31:03,716 --> 00:31:06,716
Speaker 5: It was just an amazing, amazing feeling.

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00:31:07,276 --> 00:31:10,716
Speaker 7: I couldn't wait to get inside the greet my sister,

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00:31:11,076 --> 00:31:14,436
Speaker 7: and it's something I don't think anyone can explain. I've

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00:31:14,436 --> 00:31:18,636
Speaker 7: waited so long, after seventy eight years, using my sister

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00:31:18,716 --> 00:31:22,436
Speaker 7: for the first time, and that was duplicated when I'm

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00:31:22,436 --> 00:31:23,396
Speaker 7: out the second sister.

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00:31:24,116 --> 00:31:27,436
Speaker 8: I think one of the most amazing moments was when

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00:31:27,476 --> 00:31:31,236
Speaker 8: I went to see my father's grave, even now just

501
00:31:31,436 --> 00:31:34,996
Speaker 8: thinking about it and standing there, and it was such

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00:31:35,036 --> 00:31:38,356
Speaker 8: an emotional moment, not only me, but to have my

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00:31:38,396 --> 00:31:42,876
Speaker 8: two sisters alongside me. It was a very, very wonderful

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00:31:42,876 --> 00:31:45,716
Speaker 8: event and one that I shall never forget.

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00:31:47,956 --> 00:31:51,396
Speaker 1: The story of the so called Brown Babies is yet

506
00:31:51,436 --> 00:31:55,116
Speaker 1: another grim chapter in the history of the Second World War.

507
00:31:55,756 --> 00:32:00,396
Speaker 1: The cruelty and inhumanity of the segregation forced on black giyes,

508
00:32:01,156 --> 00:32:04,076
Speaker 1: the hostility shown to the British women who fell in

509
00:32:04,076 --> 00:32:07,516
Speaker 1: love with them, and then the vileness of the treatment

510
00:32:07,836 --> 00:32:12,876
Speaker 1: meted out their innocence and bewildered offspring. For Terry Harrison,

511
00:32:13,236 --> 00:32:17,796
Speaker 1: whose upbringing was so marred by hatred and prejudice. One

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00:32:17,876 --> 00:32:19,356
Speaker 1: lesson stands out from all.

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00:32:20,356 --> 00:32:23,076
Speaker 5: The most important thing is being good to others.

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00:32:23,316 --> 00:32:24,236
Speaker 1: That is crucial.

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00:32:24,316 --> 00:32:26,916
Speaker 5: Money means nothing to me. It's being good and treating

516
00:32:26,956 --> 00:32:29,276
Speaker 5: people wherever there, whatever there, what color they are, it

517
00:32:29,276 --> 00:32:32,956
Speaker 5: doesn't matter. It's what's inside, because sooner or later we

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00:32:33,076 --> 00:32:34,156
Speaker 5: all end the same way.

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00:32:50,756 --> 00:32:54,076
Speaker 1: This bonus episode of Bad Women, The Blackout Ripper, was

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00:32:54,116 --> 00:32:57,636
Speaker 1: hosted by me Halle Rubinhold. It was written and produced

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00:32:57,636 --> 00:33:02,156
Speaker 1: by Courtney Garno, Ryan Dilly, and Alice Fines. Pascal Wise

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00:33:02,316 --> 00:33:05,116
Speaker 1: Sound designed and mixed the show and composed all the

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00:33:05,116 --> 00:33:09,436
Speaker 1: original music. The show was recorded at Border Studios by

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00:33:09,516 --> 00:33:20,636
Speaker 1: David Smith and Tom Berry