On Saturday, May 10th at Harper Library, the Friends of the Library Southport Oak Island (FOLSOI) hosted it’s second NC Reads program for 2025 featuring “The Girls We Sent Away” by Meagan Church. Meagan was joined by co-host, Jennifer LeZotte, associate professor of American History and the Director of Public History at The University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
Along with 17 other participants, I listened to the author (Meagan) discuss how she originally was inspired to write this story of Lorraine Delford and her family in the 1960’s, and her experiences of getting pregnant, being sent off to a maternity home, and the realities of how society treated unwed mothers to be and how their lives were shaped by these actions. Professor Jennifer LeZotte did an excellent job bringing in the historical and social context of this “baby scoop era” and the key political changes that were running in parallel to the story. The pairing of these two facilitators was amazing, and kudos to the FOLSOI planning team who found that match.
From Lysol as a contraceptive, to girdles, to bathing suits and to astronauts landing on the moon, Meagan Church was masterful in bringing all her research into a poignant story that was sobering for me to think this was just 50 years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and felt lucky to have had the chance to be part of a discussion with other women, many of which lived through this painful history (or had a mother who did), and who are committed to speaking out against any attempts to take us back there!
Click here for more information on the statewide NC Reads program