HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Sallie Brandon, a survivor of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, is scheduled to speak at Wallace State Community College on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 11:00 a.m. at the Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre inside the Gudger Student Center.
Brandon was among the 5,000 children to pass through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, an underhanded orphanage conducted by Georgia Tann in the Memphis area from 1924 to 1950. Tann utilized multiple deceitful methods to bring children into her home and subsequently sold them to other families.
Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours,” a New York Times best seller, chronicles the Tennessee Children’s Home Society through a fictional character, the book being Wallace State’s Common Read for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Brandon, who has lived in Huntsville for 40 years, continues to help victims’ families connect the dots to their biological roots.
“I was 45 years old when I found out my birthname. Everything is in a name, but if you’re adopted, you don’t know your last name,” Brandon said. “I’m one of the few adoptees that remembers Georgia Tann. I was almost four years old when I was sent there. Her operation was human trafficking before that became a well-known term.”
Brandon added there are other survivors living in Huntsville and in the Birmingham area.
Brandon is a frequent guest at book club readings and has appeared on “The Today Show.”
Her visit is sponsored by the Common Read Committee.
Wallace State’s Common Read Committee selects a book each academic year to be read campus-wide and its purpose is to provide a common academic experience for all students and to strengthen the academic atmosphere of the whole institution by focusing on a literary initiative each year. The program’s main goal is to have fun and enjoy a great book, but it also encourages reading among students, creates a sense of community on campus, promotes discussion, provides a shared intellectual experience and encourages cross-disciplinary dialogues.
