Hidden Figures: Clara Hale (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Clara Hale

Clara McBride was born April 1, 1905 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She married shortly after high school and moved to New York City where she studied business administration, cleaned, and worked as a domestic. Hale had three children, Nathan, Lorraine and adopted son Kenneth. In 1938, her husband died from cancer, and at the age of 27, Hale struggled to support her children through the Great Depression. Hale cleaned houses and eventually opened her own home daycare, keeping children while their parents worked during the day. The children that she cared for found her home to be such a caring and loving environment they did not want to go home at the end of the day; as such, most began to stay with her full-time, only seeing their mothers on the weekends. She used her home as a day care for other struggling parents which later led her to become a foster parent. In the 1940s, she provided short-term and long-term care for community children, found permanent homes for homeless children, and taught parents essential parenting skills. Hale became an official foster mother in the 40s, receiving a license and often taking in 7-8 children at a time. By 1947-1968, she had taken care of 40 foster children. In 1969, at the age of 65, Hale began to take babies addicted to heroin into her home after her biological daughter, Lorraine, brought a mother and child who were addicted to drugs to her for care. Within months, she was caring for 22 addicted infants, and in 1970 she got a home license as a "child care facility,” calling it the Hale House. Hale became known for the work she did, garnering the nickname ‘Mother Hale,' as she was a mother to those who did not have one. A few years later Hale purchased a larger building, a "5 story home so there could be more space and more room to fit more" and in 1975 she was able to attain another license in child-care. The building then became officially known as Hale House, ad Hale subsequently devoted her life to caring for needy children. She took in children, free of charge, who were addicted to drugs and helped them through their addictive periods. She would raise the children as if they were her own and once they were healthy she would help to find families interested in adoption. She took it upon herself to make sure the families were a correct fit and even in some cases turned families down if she thought they could not provide a good enough home for the child. She eventually helped over 1,000 drug addicted babies and young children who were born addicted to drugs, children born with HIV, and children whose parents had died of AIDS. She died of complications of a stroke December 18, 1992 at the age of 87, in New York City. Hale House still operates today, under the name ‘Mother Hale Learning Center.’ “I’m not an American hero. I’m a person who loves children.” #ClaraHale #HiddenFigures ****************** Follow me on social media! Twitter: @seren_sensei Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: The Mother Hale Learning Center: http://halehouse.org 'Clara Hale; Worked With Babies Born to Drug Addicts:' http://articles.latimes.com/1992-12-19/news/mn-2144_1_clara-hale 'CLARA HALE, 87, DIES:' https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1992/12/20/clara-hale-87-dies/ee5edbd4-32ad-4fd6-b500-d1974d9fd6d2/?utm_term=.d5e28b86a964 ''MAMMA HALE' GIVES HOME TO BABIES OF ADDICTS:' http://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/12/nyregion/mamma-hale-gives-home-to-babies-of-addicts.html Hale, Clara McBride (1905-1992): http://www.blackpast.org/aah/hale-clara-mcbride-1905-1992 Clara Hale Facts: http://biography.yourdictionary.com/clara-hale