4 ms·

The Tragic Story Behind the Infamous '4 Children for Sale' Photograph (2023)

21 points by kolanos 1y ago

Molitor5901 1y ago
This hits home for me because my great grandfather was given away at 11 years old, and his brother who was 12 also, because the family could no longer afford to keep them. They were given to a family with a farm in a nearby county. Unfortunately due to illiteracy and lack of official records, no one knows to this day who my grandfathers actual parents were. All I know is that he and his brother were dropped off with a new family and worked on the farm until they left for the military at 18. This kind of article reminds me of just how good we have it in America today, despite all its faults.
- qingcharles 1y ago
  Yeah, people seem to forget we're talking about living history here. These sorts of things happened within the lifetimes of people who are still with us.
  - Molitor5901 1y ago
    When I saw the video of people in New York City in 1910(1), then colorized, I was floored. But then I found an article(2) where someone managed to find out who the family was, and it really hit me how close we are to the birth of technology that today are so common place that we lose perception of our collective timeline. (1)https://youtu.be/68rZ2RNndSA?si=7xOsDi2Vaa74Dusp&t=25 https://youtu.be/68rZ2RNndSA?si=7xOsDi2Vaa74Dusp&t=25 (2)https://www.brownstonedetectives.com/who-are-these-people-1911/ https://www.brownstonedetectives.com/who-are-these-people-19...
    - qingcharles 1y ago
      Great bit of detective work!
anon291 1y ago
Unfortunately, child selling is the 'default' state of humanity. Our current regime in which we prioritize children staying with their birth family (which is correct, in my opinion) is novel and an aberration in the grand scheme of history. Despite all the claims that things are getting worse, we should always remember that things today are so insanely better than they were just a few decades ago that we cannot even IMAGINE how bad things used to be within living memory. I'm quite conservative politically, but I will admit to bristling anytime anyone idolizes the 50s and the surrounding times. It was actually pretty awful.

21 points by kolanos 1y ago

This hits home for me because my great grandfather was given away at 11 years old, and his brother who was 12 also, because the family could no longer afford to keep them. They were given to a family with a farm in a nearby county. Unfortunately due to illiteracy and lack of official records, no one knows to this day who my grandfathers actual parents were. All I know is that he and his brother were dropped off with a new family and worked on the farm until they left for the military at 18. This kind of article reminds me of just how good we have it in America today, despite all its faults.

qingcharles 1y ago
Yeah, people seem to forget we're talking about living history here. These sorts of things happened within the lifetimes of people who are still with us.
- Molitor5901 1y ago
  When I saw the video of people in New York City in 1910(1), then colorized, I was floored. But then I found an article(2) where someone managed to find out who the family was, and it really hit me how close we are to the birth of technology that today are so common place that we lose perception of our collective timeline. (1)https://youtu.be/68rZ2RNndSA?si=7xOsDi2Vaa74Dusp&t=25 https://youtu.be/68rZ2RNndSA?si=7xOsDi2Vaa74Dusp&t=25 (2)https://www.brownstonedetectives.com/who-are-these-people-1911/ https://www.brownstonedetectives.com/who-are-these-people-19...
  - qingcharles 1y ago
    Great bit of detective work!

anon291 1y ago

Unfortunately, child selling is the 'default' state of humanity. Our current regime in which we prioritize children staying with their birth family (which is correct, in my opinion) is novel and an aberration in the grand scheme of history. Despite all the claims that things are getting worse, we should always remember that things today are so insanely better than they were just a few decades ago that we cannot even IMAGINE how bad things used to be within living memory. I'm quite conservative politically, but I will admit to bristling anytime anyone idolizes the 50s and the surrounding times. It was actually pretty awful.