In order to fully understand the complex environment that young Twyla and Roberta experienced in the fictional St. Bonaventure Orphanage in Toni Morrison’s Recitatif, a history of the orphanages and school systems of America’s largest Northern cities and their connection to race must also be understood. After the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, newly freed Black families began traveling north, to places like New York City, to find work and a chance at a better life in the North. According to New York Public Library records, though, the only work available to them in the city at the time was domestic work, and often this work would not allow for the Black mothers and fathers to keep their children (Evans). With no choice but to work, Black parents were forced to give up their children. However, the first and only Black orphanage in New York City, the Colored Orphan Asylum, was burned down in July of 1963 during the Draft Riots, leaving these children with nowhere to go but the streets (Nielsen).
An illustration of the riots and burning of the Colored Orphan Asylum, from the Illustrated London News, August 15, 1863
While no dates are specifically noted by Morrison, the mention of The Wizard of Oz film by “Big Bozo”, which was released in 1939, indicates that Twyla and Roberta were living at St. Bonny’s around this time. Despite this being 76 years after the burning of the Colored Orphan Asylum, circumstances had not improved for Black orphans in New York City. The systemic racism of the nation was still running deep through both the North and South during the mid 1900’s, evident through Roberta’s mother’s shock that her daughter was being housed with a child of another race. Conditions were still abysmal for all orphans in the city, especially so for the Black orphanages, which were underfunded and less supported than the segregated White orphanages. Shockingly, it wasn’t until 1984 that legislation brought about by the New York Civil Liberties Union finally made it illegal for foster and adoption agencies to place children based upon race (Rosner and Markowitz). As with any law, loopholes were discovered and these types of agencies still find ways to discriminate up until this very day.
References:
Evans, Rhonda. “The Howard Colored Orphan Asylum: New York’s First Black-Run Orphanage.” The New York Public Library, The New York Public Library, 11 June 2020, www.nypl.org/blog/2020/06/11/howard-colored-orphan-asylum-new-york.
Nielsen, Euell A. “The Colored Orphans Asylum of New York (1836-1946) •.” THE COLORED ORPHANS ASYLUM OF NEW YORK (1836-1946), BlackPast.org, 2 June 2020, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/colored-orphans-asylum-new-york-1836-1946/.
Purnell, Brian, and Jeanne Theoharis. “Perspective | How New York City Became the Capital of the Jim Crow North.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/08/23/how-new-york-city-became-the-capital-of-the-jim-crow-north/.
“The Riots in New York: Destruction of the Colored Orphan Asylum.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections, Illustrated London News and Sketch Ltd., 15 Aug. 1863, digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-3fb8-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
Rosner, David, and Gerald Markowitz. “Race, Foster Care, and the Politics of Abandonment in New York City.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 87, no. 11, 1997, pp. 1844–1849., doi:10.2105/ajph.87.11.1844.
“Yes, The Colored Orphan Asylum Was Looted And Burned Down By A Mob.” BBC America, 3 Sept. 2012, www.bbcamerica.com/blogs/yes-the-colored-orphan-asylum-was-looted-and-burned-down-by-a-mob–51459.
I didn’t know that much about orphanages before this week. I also was uneducated about the draft riots, and I plan on reading more into that. I think it’s horrible that law wasn’t passed until 1984, which really wasn’t that long ago. Thank you for the extra context on the reading.
I was not aware that the only work for African Americans moving from the north to the south was only domestic work. I also did not know that this work forced them to be separated from their children until reading this. I really appreciate and enjoyed your use of context clues as to when exactly the story took place (mentioning of the Wizard of Oz”.
The relationship between this orphanage and race is quite complicated, and when I read that black parents are forced to abandon their children for work. This is shocking to me. I can’t imagine the life of these children living on the streets without their parents. This article has taught me a lot of knowledge.