Children Saving Children: Humanitarianism, World War I, and American Childhood

Abstract

In January 1918, Teddy Brown from Fairbanks, Alaska, was coming home. As he entered the house, the ten-year-old boy slammed the door shut, stormed into the living room, and demanded that his parents put on their coats. Teddy solemnly proclaimed that he had heard harrowing stories about French children's sufferings and wanted to contribute a weekly donation of seventy-five cents in order to help “a brother” in France. After listening to his pleas, Teddy's parents eventually came to endorse his chosen mission. The family left the house, venturing out into the sub-zero temperatures, and headed to the local committee of the Fatherless Children of France Society (FCFS). By the time Teddy made his commitment, thousands of other American children had already “adopted” orphans in France.

African Americans, World War I, and the Awakening of a “Colored” Manifest Destiny

“…World War I spearheaded a new form a humanitarianism based on the "adoption" (financial sponsorship) of French orphans. Through the Fatherless Children of France Society (FCFS), founded in 1915, approximately 300,000 French boys and girls received money from American benefactors between 1915 and 1921 (Destenay 2023). When Woodrow Wilson delivered his speech to Congress in April 1917, he hoped to mobilize American children and speed up the Americanization process of foreigners living on U.S. soil (Capozzola 2008;Gerstle 1997).…”

“…In October 1916, several months before the creation of the Junior Red Cross (Irwin 2013), the Junior Committee of the FCFS had already been established. Its mission: to match American children as sponsors for orphaned children in France (Destenay 2023). The Junior Committee of the FCFS invited American children to humanitarian action and engaged them in foreign aid.…”

“…Cite this article: Destenay, Emmanuel (2023). African Americans, World War I, and the Awakening of a "Colored" Manifest Destiny.…”