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The 75th anniversary of World War 2 so here’s an interesting piece of history to learn about. The documentary is called Brown Babies by WUSA executive producer and award winning journalist, Regina Griffin. This documentary gives a very different view on what it means to be African-American. Griffin takes us back to World War 2 where African-American Soldiers and German women had so called “Brown Babies”, the unwanted offspring of two enemy world powers.
When Ms. Griffin first came across this story, it was through a friend who’s life had been the premise of “Brown Babies” and led to Ms. Griffins inspiration to create this documentary. Griffin felt compelled to tell this portion of history that should be known to the world. The basis of the story is when the “Brown Babies” were born they faced rejection in Germany; a lot of women were embarrassed to even have had a mulatto child. As these children were adopted into the African-American homes back in the United States they lost remembrance of their German heritage and faced horrific discrimination in the United States. The documentary goes on to reveal how these “Brown Babies” came to realize and cope with their past, and how they took that past going forward in the future.
When asked about the emotional toll it took to report this part of history Griffin responded saying that anytime you hear emotional stories and people begin to share intimate parts of their lives, revealing them to the public is very difficult. As the interview progressed two key words, rejection and abandonment, kept making their way into the interview. According to Ms. Griffin, every human can suffer from these emotional actions. Regardless of race, ethnicity, or creed, everyone in this world wants to belong and have an identity. As many of you can imagine, turning this research project and collection of interviews into multi-awarded documentary, was a heartfelt process. Film festivals were set ablaze after viewers experienced Ms. Griffin’s masterpiece.
As you can read this documentary is well worth taking a look at, if you would like more information please visit http://brownbabiesfilm.com and if you would like to have a screening at your school, church, clubs, or organizations you can request it at this link http://brownbabiesfilm.com/contact/.
