Homer G. Phillips Hospital closed in 1979. But a case is just opening up for 18 African-American mothers who allege they were lied to by the St. Louis state hospital. These mothers were all told that there children had tragically died after birth. However, suspicions of foul play arose after DNA testing proved one of the women was recently reunited with her 49 year old daughter!
Zella Jackson Price, who thought her child had long been dead, was contacted by her grand-daughter, via Facebook. Her grand-daughter was looking for her grandparents using birth certificate records. After Mrs. Price was contacted, DNA tests proved the young lady had indeed found her grandmother. As a result, 76 year old, Zella Jackson Price met her 49 year old daughter, Melanie Diane Gilmore, for the first time. Melanie was born premature; and after the staff at Homer G. Phillips gave her the disheartening news, Zella left the hospital never second guessing their judgement. Now, she’s excited to have new family and is wasting no time spoiling her newly found grandchildren.
All of the women who have come forward have similar stories. One of them says she knew her baby wasn’t dead all along. Brenda Stewart was 16 and unmarried when she gave birth on June 24, 1964. It seemed that her daughter was healthy, but the nurse told her that the child died. The way the staff handled the death didn’t sit well with her either. “They told me I didn’t need a baby,” Stewart said. “I was too young to have a baby. They told me my parents didn’t need another mouth to feed.” Attorney Albert Watkins, who is representing these women, said,”There was, in the city of St. Louis in the 1950s and 1960s, a very dark and unlawful trafficking of human infants of color.” He plans to prove his case by comparing birth records to adoption records.
This story is too sad, but true. We hope these women have an opportunity to build relationships with their families.
While speaking with Fox News Zella Jackson Price said, “God has given me everything the devil has taken from me.”
Source: Fox News
