Clara Hale (1905-1992) dedicated her life to caring for children who had a rough start to life. Her journey might make you reconsider what it means to be a mother.
Clara Hale (1905-1992) dedicated her life to caring for children who had a rough start to life. Her journey might make you reconsider what it means to be a mother.
While motherhood can take many forms, to mother is to usher forth new generations through care, work and imagination. For the entire month of December, we’re celebrating mothers — including those who raised children who went on to lead the civil rights movement and school desegregation efforts, such as Alberta King and Louise Little, as well as mothers of movements like Lorena Borjas who started the Latinx trans movement. All of the women featured this month were dedicated to the survival of children in their work and to imagining better futures for the next generation.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I'm Anna Malkia Tubbs, the author of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK, Malcom X and James Baldwin Shaped A Nation. My work focuses on motherhood, through the lens of feminism, intersectionality, and inclusivity, and I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about mothers: women - some who had their own children, some who didn’t - who ushered forth new generations and new futures through their care, work, and imagination.
Today, we’re talking about a woman hailed by many as an American hero. She dedicated her life to caring for children who were given a rough start to life.
Her journey might make you reconsider what it means to be a mother and to nurture children as though they were your own.
Let’s talk about Clara Hale.
Clara McBride was born on April 1, 1905 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the youngest of four children.
Clara’s father passed away when she was just a baby and left the family in hard times. In order to make ends meet, her mother rented part of their home out to boarders and cooked for the household. Clara would always look to her mother as an inspiration. saying, “She gave me the foundation for all I’ve done.”
Clara married Thomas Hale right after graduating from high school, and the pair moved to New York City In New York, Thomas started a floor waxing business, but it was not as profitable as he had hoped it would be. So Clara worked, too, often taking night cleaning jobs.By the time she was 27, she and Thomas had two children: Lorraine and Nathan. But soon, Thomas got sick, and died from cancer. To make ends meet while continuing to care for her children as a newly single mother, Clara started to take care of other people’s children, too.
She wasn’t paid especially well, but she made enough to feed herself and her children. What began as a daycare evolved into a place for families in need to leave their kids for longer periods of time.
In the following years, Clara, or Mama Hale, as she came to be known, turned her five room apartment on 146th street in Harlem into a foster home for nearly 40 children. This arrangement went on for decades. But just as Clara was ready to take a break, a chance encounter changed the course of her life.
Outside of Clara’s apartment, her daughter, Lorraine, noticed a woman who was visibly struggling with drug addiction. She was slipping in and out of consciousness. And in her arms was her baby.
Lorraine urged the woman to contact her mother for help. The following day, the woman and her baby appeared on Clara’s doorstep.
Clara briefly stepped inside to call Lorraine. Who was this woman? What was going on? When Clara returned, the woman was gone, and her baby remained.
Word spread quickly. As Clara put it, people talked about the “crazy lady on 146th street who’ll give your baby a home.”
Within a few months, she was taking care of 22 babies who’d been born addicted to drugs. It was the 1970s, and the crack cocaine epidemic was beginning to tear through Harlem. Many of these mothers felt they had no path forward. Mama Hale was their safety net.
Clara had no prior experience caring for drug-addicted babies. They’d arrive at her doorstep in withdrawal, often just a few weeks old. But she showered them with care, songs, food, and love. With help from her daughter, Lorraine, she paved a more official path for her work which included receiving an annual grant from the city and moving into a larger Harlem brownstone, which came to be known as the Hale House.
In her new brownstone, she had space for a playroom, kitchen, and a nursery. She also had a living room that served as a visitation room when recovering mothers came to visit their children. It was always Clara’s ultimate goal to reunite children with their parents. While she took care of the children, the parents underwent a drug-treatment program. Of the over 400 children that ultimately came into her care, only eleven of them were put up for adoption.
Despite her most noble of intentions, the Hale House was a difficult endeavor to keep afloat. The house could never take in nearly as many children as had requested to be there. Clara and her staff were extremely underpaid and made an average of $175 per week, which only underscored how devoted her staff was to the mission of their work, placing it far above their own financial wellbeing. Her love and dedication to the children shone through her work, and she was praised by many public figures, including then President Ronald Reagan.
In December of 1982, Clara died from complications from a stroke at age 87. Sadly, following her death the Hale House lost the reputation it once had. Facts came to light regarding the misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars by Clara’s daughter, Lorraine, some of which were used to refurbish her Scarsdale home. Nevertheless, Clara herself remains a hero and champion of a community that had little other support during a challenging time.
All month, we’re talking about mothers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
As always, we’re taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you Monday!