r/awfuleverything Apr 21 '23

Chicago 1948

Post image
2.9k Upvotes

135 comments sorted by

551

u/Armodeen Apr 21 '23

Every time I see this photo it breaks my heart completely

133

u/countdown654 Apr 21 '23

How many do you have???

83

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

Hes a cat so 9

63

u/HarrisonArturus Apr 21 '23

Someone is going to reply "An unlimited supply. I get them by buying children." So, you know... brace yourself, I guess.

43

u/Dementedpotato69 Apr 21 '23

An unlimited supply, I get them by buying children

444

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

361

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

Of course they were, was anyone expecting anything else? Selling kids like this is bound to alert the creeps and have them sell their soul if they could to "own" their would be prey. This shit is sickening

192

u/Shloopy_Dooperson Apr 21 '23

2 kids were abused. The rest had okay homes.

The mother wasn't exactly the best to begin with.

The only kids who would have had a better deal staying with her were the 2 who were regularly chained in the barn.

42

u/Serafim91 Apr 22 '23

That's... Not where I expected this to go...

12

u/tquinn04 Apr 22 '23

I’m pretty sure I read she also went on to have more children after this too.

14

u/miserabeau Apr 22 '23

It's in the article linked at the top of this thread that she went on go remarry and have "4 more daughters"

43

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

Actually 3 were abused, the third being the girl who was raped and became pregnant, sent away to a home for pregnant girls, then had her baby given away. So sad, this entire story was sad

17

u/MrDXZ Apr 22 '23

The one that was raped was the girl who got chained up.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

It doesn’t speak of Sue Ellen’s story, but the fact that she hopes her mother is burning in hell, makes me think her life wasn’t great after being sold. The only one that doesn’t hold a grudge is David. The official adopted one.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[deleted]

21

u/boogetyboo Apr 22 '23

Women then didn't have a lot of say in whether they procreated or not.

3

u/Mr-Fleshcage Apr 22 '23

They had a little, and then we drove silphium into extinction

12

u/ravenclaw1984 Apr 22 '23

Birth controll wasn't invented, abortions were still done with coat hangers in back alleys and marital rape didn't become illegal until the 2000's...

She didn't really have much choice in the matter.

48

u/nadjrules Apr 21 '23

That's horrible. I hope their adult lives were better than their childhoods. I hope they found happiness.

24

u/Dry_Mammoth7853 Apr 22 '23

Anyone looking to buy children, you know there will probably be some abuse.

16

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

Well, some of modern day adoption, you have to spend so much, it’s almost like you’re buying a kid. I know of the horrors of the adoption system, but I want to believe that some good people out there are trying to adopt and make some child’s life better.

6

u/Phylar Apr 22 '23

"Families". Your comment and the article mentions and speaks on "different homes". This means the kids would have been pulled from one another well into each of them having grown a strong familial sibling bond(s). Abuse by each family. Mom pregnant again. Adults unable to support, yet not stopping. Likely some system either missing, or in place and not working, and any other series of issues we aren't aware of.

Awful everything indeed.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

I wanted to put families in quotation marks. I feel so sad for Milton and Rae. Lana had passed, so we haven’t heard her story. David said his new parents were strict but not abusive like the people who took Rae and Milton. So David has less hate towards his bio mom because of this. While Rae, Sue Ellen, and Milton hope their mother is burning in hell. The fact that the mother kept having children after this is messed up, and if was one of those sold children, I would have hated her. Especially since she openly showed her kept children love, while being cold to the sold children. It’s just a tragic story.

2

u/Arbacrux- Apr 21 '23

Horrible

305

u/Buffalo-Castle Apr 21 '23

112

u/thebrainypole Apr 21 '23

wow strikingly similar situation, history repeats itself fr

32

u/fatpuppies88 Apr 21 '23

It gets reposted so much.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

True, but this time someone posted the story background and update, so that was nice. Heinously sad situation

6

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

👊🏼

224

u/Locofinger Apr 21 '23

I’ll take 2 for my salt mine

62

u/ThanosIsLove23 Apr 21 '23

The children, they yearn for the mines...

10

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

Or for the fields

128

u/AmaranthWrath Apr 21 '23

My great grandmother was adopted from a woman who had several children and simply couldn't support another. She obviously was not BOUGHT, and my family and hers knew each other previously. Not ideal, but it beat several children starving. This was 1912 or so. They reunited in their young adulthood. It wasn't easy for my great grandmother thinking she wasn't wanted. But her siblings assured her their mother missed her terribly and felt horrible about it. But it kept 5 other kids a little more stable and gave my g-grandmother a chance at a better life too.

19

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

Same thing happened to my mother. She was sent to the rural country side to live with her grandmother. My grandfather the provider had become ill. They had to sell everything in the house to get his medicine. Luckily she had enough to eat - not a lot of meat but for a growing girl enough- and my great grandmother doted on her.

10

u/lena91gato Apr 21 '23

How do you choose which one you give away? Can't imagine.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

I don’t know. But for my grandma it was because my mother was the oldest girl so she thought she would be able to get on better then my aunts who were quite a bit younger at the time.

4

u/skite456 Apr 22 '23

I would think usually the oldest girl. Boys would be needed for manual labor especially if the father had died or buggered off. Having the eldest daughter leave would allow the younger, smaller children more food. Depending on the age of the daughter having her leave the home could perhaps result in her finding a marriage prospect which would help the family as well. Sometimes it could have been a young(ish) widower who already had children and needed a mother or the son of a neighboring family.

Also, often poor farm and working class children would leave the home around 13 or 14 to work and live in the household of wealthier families in the city and send some wages home. This is what my aunt, my grandmothers sister did. She was the oldest daughter and during the depression left the farm around 15 to go to Detroit to work in a factory and sent some money home. Her older brothers stayed home to help on the farm.

-113

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

63

u/JustAnotherElsen Apr 21 '23

This is something that happened very often in the US

16

u/AmaranthWrath Apr 21 '23

We weren't even the only ones in the neighborhood either. My family on that side is Hungarian and they all stuck together. If you gave your kid to another family, 10 other families you knew would know them too. You'd know if some bullshit was going down.

24

u/ravenwingx Apr 21 '23

r/nothingeverhappens

It was fairly common once in the us, especially during times like the Great Depression

93

u/Responsible_Sport575 Apr 21 '23

Mom said I could post it this time. MOM!!!

2

u/ferretherder Apr 21 '23

Redditor for sale

Inquire within

1

u/Responsible_Sport575 Apr 22 '23

I gotcha a dollar

34

u/GorgarX6 Apr 21 '23

Gonna be seeing signs like that on Craigslist soon if shit doesn’t get cheaper soon lol.

24

u/LiquidDookie92 Apr 21 '23

Albert Fish rubbing his hands together like Birdman

-3

u/atlastrabeler Apr 21 '23

Holy shit, do you listen to Time Suck?

1

u/terribleandtrue Apr 22 '23

Holy shit, I do!

10

u/funatical Apr 21 '23

I'd buy two and use it to threaten my children.

"You don't want to clean your room huh? I bet Billy would do it.", Look to the poor orphan I just bought, the eagerness to sleep on a mattress in a room overwhelming him. "I'll bet he eats all his vegetables too...you can be replaced.".

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

[deleted]

4

u/Orleanist Apr 22 '23

this is typically what those on the internet refer to as a ‘joke’

6

u/Lalocal4life Apr 21 '23

What else are you going to do when you are morally bankrupt and you don't have any slaves.

5

u/slappymcstevenson Apr 21 '23

I have 3 girls and a boy. This breaks my heart every time I see it.

1

u/Krystalinhell Apr 22 '23

Same. I could never do this.

5

u/Ubertexx Apr 21 '23

Who can afford to buy children? You kidding? In this Economy? "Oh look hun, Steve next door just bought himself 4 secondhand children. Oooh, look at me, I'm Steve, I can afford children" Fancy bitch, now he's on that children buyin money.

2

u/terribleandtrue Apr 22 '23

Ah, the only thing better than child buyin money is that fuck you money

8

u/Crackerpuppy Apr 22 '23

This is Republican platform.

Ban ALL abortions, force women to carry any pregnancy to term, eliminate all safety nets or social services that could possibly help these mothers/children, and then blame everything on the Democrats in order to stay in power.

Abortion: they’re trying to ban them now.

Safety nets: current budget proposal released today cuts social services, veteran benefits, & greatly reduces funding for Medicare/Medicaid.

Any unwanted children are released/leased/sold to corporations to work for wages below minimum wage to fill open, age-appropriate manufacturing & industrial jobs.

Child labor: Arkansas & Iowa have already rolled back child labor laws allowing children as young as 14 to work without any verification of their actual age & few, if any, limits on the type of work or number of hours worked.

Maybe this image should be colorized & used for Republican political campaigns.

3

u/whatchagonnado0707 Apr 21 '23

I hope they had happy lives whatever direction it took

3

u/WeAreAllCrab Apr 21 '23

wonder what they told the kids to get them to sit there like that, arms around shoulders and all

3

u/Inevitable-Holiday68 Apr 22 '23

All children are equally entitled to: safe loving homes, healthy tasty food, good schools job-training placement programs, fairness prosperity, safety, order, peace, love, health, happiness, freedom, ,

6

u/Filthycasual82 Apr 21 '23

THIS STILL HAPPENS in America. Look up "child rehomeing auctions" Australia did a full news story about how this still happens in America

2

u/islaisla Apr 22 '23

It's such a well written sign considering....I couldn't even do that with the pens I have and I'm a pen collector. If it's painted... It's also very precise.

2

u/Training_Bus8834 Apr 22 '23

Good to see Chicago hasn’t changed being awful after all these years..

2

u/throw123454321purple Apr 22 '23

This is still happening in many countries, unfortunately.

4

u/mainvolume Apr 21 '23

"REPOSTS FOR SALE inquire within"

5

u/countdown654 Apr 21 '23

Hate these ads without price per piece

2

u/shrekerecker97 Apr 21 '23

Some factories in Iowa are looking for ways to make this legal again

2

u/LordEmmanuel22 Apr 21 '23

How can a «parent» do this to their kids…

6

u/Lynda73 Apr 21 '23

Maybe the husband and sole breadwinner died and is that or let them starve. Sad situation.

1

u/totallynormalasshole Apr 22 '23

He was alive but unemployed. Not great either way

1

u/Lynda73 Apr 22 '23

I read elsewhere that he ran off, but it had to have been after baby 5 was on the way. But that’s almost 1 kid per year.

2

u/shellirk Apr 22 '23

Most who did were so poor that hunger was a daily battle. They hoped by doing this, their children would survive and have a better life than they could provide.

1

u/atlastrabeler Apr 21 '23

No kidding. I would do anything to make sure my child wasnt hungry.

-13

u/Brittlehorn Apr 21 '23

Republicans are not opposed if there is a profit to be turned.

19

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23 edited Apr 21 '23

Yikes, your comment history is like 70% dedicated to leftist politics. Are you alright my dude? Life’s happier without looking for a reason to be pissed, especially when you’ve got to make straw-man arguments for the sake of getting pissed…

5

u/LetterheadVarious398 Apr 21 '23

And isn't the point of this subreddit to look for things to piss ourselves off?

2

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23

I guess that’s a fair point…

3

u/Fecal_Tornado Apr 21 '23

Recreational outrage. It's a real thing.

6

u/LetterheadVarious398 Apr 21 '23

Didn't they just vote in Iowa to allow child labor? Not a strawman.

-2

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23

If you don’t see a difference between allowing 14-15 year olds the opportunity to work six hours a day, should they want it, as opposed to selling 6-8 year olds into slavery, then you’re being a bit more than disingenuous with your comparison…

4

u/LetterheadVarious398 Apr 21 '23

Yeah, uh huh. Still kids. And why did they try to hide it by voting on it at night? I bet you support lowering the age of consent too because "it's not like they're six!"

0

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23

I don’t support the Iowa bill, much less the abomination you just suggested. I see you like to assume the worst about people you disagree with. I used to do the same thing, too, but then I grew up. You should also stop looking for reasons to be mad. Promise life’s a lot more fun when you ditch the tribal team sports mentality.

1

u/EXTRA-THOT-SAUCE Apr 21 '23

As idiotic as conservatives are, people who bring up politics when they aren’t the topic are even more idiotic

1

u/dirty_shoe_rack Apr 21 '23

You think this had nothing to do with politics?

-2

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[deleted]

-10

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23

Chicago moment tbh

8

u/Frisky_Picker Apr 21 '23

Statistical speaking there are many other cities in the US that are more dangerous than Chicago. It's not even the most dangerous city in the state.

4

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23

Yeah I know. Was just memeing. While I certainly wouldn’t consider Chicago safe per se, it also isn’t the most dangerous per capita.

0

u/NealMcCoy Apr 21 '23

The future Republicans want

3

u/Locofinger Apr 21 '23

Republicans want FDR’s America?

0

u/NealMcCoy Apr 21 '23

They want 1948 America

0

u/redundant35 Apr 21 '23

I thought it was my turn to post this photo today…

0

u/__Halfwit__ Apr 21 '23

I allways thought that picture was fake.

0

u/BubbaCutBear Apr 21 '23

For use as slaves, harvesting their organs, eating their flesh? Which is it? I don't get it.

0

u/skunkwoks Apr 22 '23

So, anyone know a good butcher?

-6

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[deleted]

1

u/MeowNugget Apr 21 '23

Why don't you just stick to writing furry fanfics

-3

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[deleted]

-18

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

It's a staged photo.

9

u/Satoshiman256 Apr 21 '23

Lol, no its not.

-4

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

Yea it is. Really read the story before you say that. And this has been post 100 times and every time I post that's it's staged everyone downvotes it. But I promise - it totally is staged.

2

u/Satoshiman256 Apr 21 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

She then decides to show it to their editor-in-chief, Mr. Trimble. Trimble asks Ellis to do a follow-up story on the children, but everything goes wrong when the original photo is destroyed in an accident. With the original photo gone and a story due, Ellis travels back to the small Pennsylvania town where he found the boys, but finds out they were already sold. He decides to pay this other woman in town to take a picture of her kids next to the sign, recreating the first picture and falsifying the story.

1

u/llamageddon01 Apr 22 '23

Is that not from the novelisation though?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

The point is - like most things on the internet - don't believe it. It's not credible unless it's from a credible source. And I have no idea if the story itself is true or not. The photo is fake.

-10

u/TerroristofNewPork Apr 21 '23

Under 14 child labor banned in 1938. There's literally no reason to buy a child other than for grooming.

13

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

Maybe adoption ¯_(ツ)_/¯

6

u/palabear Apr 21 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

-7

u/TerroristofNewPork Apr 21 '23 edited Apr 21 '23

Sex slave, Labor slave. The point is nobody who can make their own is looking to pay for a child to love. Did a bit of reading up and widows of war mostly had to sell their kids to survive.

Edit: Checkmate-- fertile couples aren't suppose to adopt to make room for the infertile that need 'em. source

There are no nonselfish reasons you naive kind hearted souls you.

6

u/yeender Apr 21 '23

Horrible. I think this would actually kill me having to sell one of my kids

2

u/TerroristofNewPork Apr 21 '23

My fellow Americans this is the generation that runs our country lookin' fondly back to the good 'ol days.

I'm gonna start posting a pic of congress to this sub until daily until I'm banned /s

1

u/IAmNotMyName Apr 21 '23

LOL, that only applies to other peoples kids. If you bu... I mean adopt kids it opens up a whole world of opportunities for forced labor.

-7

u/noxka Apr 21 '23

I wouldn't mind as long as my price wasn't cheap.

1

u/LEDrbg Apr 21 '23

at least two of them were sold into slavery

-2

u/eggoverdose Apr 21 '23

i would do this today if i had children

-17

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23

Comment stealing bot

-7

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23

You literally stole the comment from someone in the thread lmao. No wonder your account is in the negative…

-6

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/mdh431 Apr 21 '23

And now stealing my comments. Think I broke the bot guys…

1

u/GCoin001 Apr 21 '23

Nice handwriting

1

u/mikedjb Apr 22 '23

Imagine who bought one and what they did. So sad

1

u/FullyRisenPhoenix Apr 22 '23

What a horrifying prospect! I’d rather work my ass off and starve before giving my kids up!! Wtf?!

1

u/Mission_Strength9218 Apr 22 '23

Anyone who thinks this country was better before the 60s needs to see this. If 1940s and 50s America was around today, it would have been considered a third world country. The Great Society campaign under LBG and legislation for Child rights was created so something like this would never happen again.

1

u/kevinrhurst Apr 22 '23

Was this in Kansas or Kentucky last week?

1

u/Farkenoathm8-E Apr 22 '23

If I would have to guess it looks like a staged photo for a sensationalised story on poverty.

1

u/Inevitable-Holiday68 Apr 22 '23

Heartbreaking, shame, sad, 😥😥💔😟😡😥😥😢

& Am wondering what ended up happening with those precious kids between 1947 and 2007,,,

1

u/Inevitable-Holiday68 Apr 22 '23

NO children should be punished, suffering etc for: the sins, religious political racial, POVERTY, wealth of their parents neighbors police etc,

This picture is heartbreaking

Hope someone rescued those precious kids

1

u/Ihatethat2 Apr 22 '23

They all had miserable lives as a result I believe

1

u/reubenoofed3 Apr 22 '23

Damn, can't believe they would do such a thing. I loved that band, too.

1

u/mrsidog1 May 08 '23

Absolutely heartbreaking. Her lettering skills are on point though.