“I learned long ago that everyone has a story, and that we need to listen to more of them.“
One day I had a comment on Instagram (that I can no longer find) about a book that was the true stories of When We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. I immediately added Before and After to my library hold list, but didn’t look at it very closely. A few weeks later, it was available for checkout and I delved in. It’s so much more than just the true stories of the Georgia Tann adoption scandal – it’s a must read companion for Before We Were Yours.
Shortly after the release of Before We Were Yours, Lisa Wingate started getting emails from families who were affected by the adoption scandal. They saw their family member in the historical fiction story Wingate had created. One of the women, Connie, suggests a reunion at the dedication of a monument in Memphis to the hundreds of children who died in Tann’s care. Wingate agrees and brings her journalist friend Judy Christie along on the journey to record the stories of the survivors for posterity.
While some babies and children were legitimately given over to Tann’s care, many were coerced because they were young or unwed mothers. Still others were stolen from front yards or taken from hospital nurseries when mothers were told their babies had died. Each of these is told in a true story in Before and After. Tann became wealthy from the adoptions by charging hundreds and extra frees beyond the typical $7 Tennessee adoption fee. She often sent children out of state to Hollywood and New York, even passing some non-Jewish babies off as Jewish.
Each and every chapter in Before and After is heartbreaking in some way. If you have read Before We Were Yours, I strongly suggest you read Before and After very soon. They should be sold together. If you haven’t read either, start with Before We Were Yours and then read Before and After. The heartbreaking stories are for mature high school readers or older, but it’s an important part of American history that needs to be learned. In this country, no one should be able to make a profit by selling another person, even under the guise of “adoption.”
Did you read Before We Were Yours? Share your thoughts of the book below!