WWII ‘Brown Babies’ | A Hidden History

Historian David Olusoga tells the story of the children born to white British mothers and black American servicemen during the Second World War, dubbed Britain’s ‘Brown Babies’ in the African American press at the time.  

Carol and Ann, now in their 80s, revisit their childhood home, Holnicote House in Somerset. During the 1940s, the building was used for the care of around 30 children of black GIs, from birth to the age of five.

Carol and Ann were among some 2000 children born in wartime Britain to black GI fathers and white British mothers. Under many pressures including social prejudice and US legislation banning interracial marriage, around half of these children were placed into care.

David also meets experts Prof Lucy Bland and Dr Chamion Caballero, to reveal this little-known history of the Second World War, and how modern DNA testing is helping families search for lost relatives 80 years later.

You can watch a video of this podcast on National Trust YouTube: ntpodcasts.org/NTP143Video

Production  
Host: David Olusoga
Producer: Michelle Douglass
Sound editor: Jesus Gomez
Consultants: Lucy Bland, Professor of Social and Cultural History at Anglia Ruskin University, and Dr Chamion Caballero, Director and Co-Founder of The Mixed Museum

Discover more

Find out more about Britain’s ‘Brown Babies’ and hear oral histories, including more from Ann:
https://mixedmuseum.org.uk/brown-babies/
Explore the experiences of WWII black GIs in the UK:
https://mixedmuseum.org.uk/brown-babies/black-gis-in-britain/
Read Britain’s ‘Brown Babies’ by Professor Lucy Bland:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Britains-%60Brown-Babies-Stories-Children/dp/1526133261
Discover the Holnicote Estate’s diverse countryside, wildlife and walkways, looked after by the National Trust
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/somerset/countryside-woodland/explore-holnicote-estate
Visit the Holnicote House hotel website:
https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/country-houses/locations/selworthy-exmoor

If you'd like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at podcasts@nationaltrust.org.uk