4- The Lost Girls
In Mid-November I had the privilege of sharing my story alongside author and professor, Shelia O'Connor. Shelia recently discovered that her mother was born at the Minnesota Home for Girls in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. This discovery uncovers a deeply heart wrenching family secret where Shelia's biological maternal grandmother (referred to as V) was nearly erased from existence. If Shelia hadn't stumbled upon the birth certificate, no one would have ever known about V, and Shelia certainly wouldn't have known about the dark history of Sauk Centre that Minnesota has tried so hard to keep hidden.
One of the things Shelia speaks to in her book, but also shared with me in person, is that the adoption records for the babies born from mothers at Sauk Centre are legally sealed for 100 years. It was a miracle that they unsealed the record for Shelia and her mother, and it wasn't without a fight.
I just can't help but wonder what else is hidden in those sealed records. The thousands of untold stories of these girls, the lies people are taking to their grave. How can we allow these lives to be erased? And why aren't more people prying to know the truth?
Shelia includes a historical year end report for Sauk Centre in 1936, it has the residents by offense category:
Offense Against Society:
Bigamy 0
Drunkenness 0
Disorderly Conduct 1
Vagrancy 0
Incorrigibility 10
Truancy 3
Immorality 79
All others in this class 1
---Minnesota Home School for Girls at Sauk Centre, "Report to Minnesota State Board of Control," June 30, 1936
This story of V, and the thousands of other unknown lost girls hits me so deeply, because when I look at these categories I realize that had my story taken place in the 1930s, I would have been one of these lost girls at Sauk Centre. Even more confirming of that is the fact that of those 94 girls, 32 of them are listed at age 17, the exact age of my own experience with the juvenile justice system.
I'm going to repeat that again to make sure that statement sunk in... if I had been born in the 1930s, my story, my life, and my existence could have been erased. This is what I mean...
In the 1930's Minnesota law required any girls who are deemed immoral, incorrigible or who are AT RISK of becoming immoral, to be sentenced until age 21. There was no wiggle room on that age requirement. It didn't matter if you were deemed immoral at age 12, the sentence was until age 21. Of course the words immoral and incorrigible are vague because they encompass a wealth of behaviors that could fall into those categories- giving the state the power to determine what kind of girls and women they will allow to live freely in society and which they need to get rid of. One behavior- pregnancy out of marriage- was essentially, an automatic ticket to Sauk Centre. This was the case for V. And it's important to note that the girls really didn't get a choice of keeping their babies or putting them up for adoption. The facility did that for them. For V, after having her daughter ripped away from her and told her baby wasn't hers - getting her back and escaping together became her goal.
We could all guess the types of women and girls that were "good women." The ones who cater to the household, her husband and never stands up for her own humanity and self-worth. All others could be defined as vagrant and a waste of life- unless of course the girl is "fixed" after years of intensive training in an institution-- like Sauk Centre. I wonder what there "recidivism" rate was? I also wonder how big their fugitive list was?
One thing I know, as presented in the book, is that many girls ran. Many of them got away too. Shelia was fortunate enough to find a death certificate for V dated a few years after she escaped from Sauk Centre. V ran from Sauk Centre making a stop at her sister's with plans to grab her daughter and run to Chicago; but when her sister put up a fight and her daughter didn't recognize her, she signed the adoption papers feeling completely defeated and her heart in pieces.
I wanted so badly for this story of V to end with her and her baby girl reunited, and they go on to start a new life together and it's happily ever after. But that's not how her story goes. And it's not how the story goes STILL for many girls today who have been a part of the juvenile and adult justice system.
This was one of the things that I really realized after reading about V's story from the 1930's. It demonstrates the complete lack of progression around society's value of women and girls and the incarceration of girls and women who are not fulfilling behavioral expectations. I'm not even touching on the abuse that contributes largely to the incarceration of women and girls, just simply looking at the fact that systems are quick to throw away girls and women for things that boys and men are rarely incarcerated for.
V's nearly erased story and the sealed up stories of the other girls, makes my stomach turn. When I think of V's story compared to my own experience and the other girls there with me, nearly 90 years apart, the narrative and the outcome of the experience is the same.
Minnesota Home School for Girls 1912
-Sullivan Discipline and Isolation Cottage- Built in 1911
- A few weeks ago I paid a short visit to Sauk Centre. I believe this is the back of Sullivan discipline/Isolation cottage. When I passed this building and took this picture, I got an icky feeling, almost as if the pain and trauma trapped in this building was overflowing into me. I feel it every time I look at this picture.
If you are interested in reading Shelia's book, Evidence of V, visit her website below! http://www.sheilaoconnor.com/
