Sallie Brandon, a survivor of the Tennessee Children’s Society, to speak on campus on Wednesday, Nov. 3
HANCEVILLE, ALA. – Sallie Brandon, a survivor of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society,
is scheduled to speak at Wallace State Community College on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 11
a.m. at the Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre inside the Gudger Student Center.
Brandon was among the 5,000 children to pass through the Tennessee Children’s Home
Society, an underhanded orphanage conducted by Georgia Tann in the Memphis area from
1924 to 1950. Tann utilized multiple deceitful methods to bring children into her
home and subsequently sold them to other families.
Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours,” a New York Times best seller, chronicles the
Tennessee Children’s Home Society through a fictional character, and the book is Wallace
State’s Common Read for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Brandon, who has lived in Huntsville for 40 years, continues to help victims’ families
connect the dots to their biological roots.
“I was 45 years old when I found out my birth name. Everything is in a name, but if
you’re adopted, you don’t know your last name,” Brandon said. “I’m one of the few
adoptees that remembers Georgia Tann. I was almost four years old when I was sent
there. Her operation was human trafficking before that became a well-known term.”
Brandon added there are other survivors living in Huntsville and in the Birmingham
area.
Brandon is a frequent guest at book club readings and has appeared on “The Today Show.”
Her visit is sponsored by the Common Read Committee.
Wallace State’s Common Read Committee selects a book each academic year to be read
campus-wide and its purpose is to provide a common academic experience for all students
and to strengthen the academic atmosphere of the whole institution by focusing on
a literary initiative each year. The program’s main goal is to have fun and enjoy
a great book, but it also encourages reading among students, creates a sense of community
on campus, promotes discussion, provides a shared intellectual experience and encourages
cross-disciplinary dialogues.
Previous Common Read selections at Wallace State include: “Big Fish: A Novel of Mythical
Proportions,” “What Should I Do With My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered
the Ultimate Question,” “Cycle of Hope: A Journey from Paralysis to Possibility,”
“The Art of Racing in the Rain,” “Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival,
and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Zeitoun,” and
“Tuesdays with Morrie.”
For more information about Wallace State, visit www.wallacestate.edu
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______________________________
Russell Moore
Wallace State Community College
Creative and Content Services Coordinator, Communications and Marketing
Speech Adjunct Instructor
256.352.8443 | office
256.339.2422 | mobile
russell.moore@wallacestate.edu
Click here to submit a Marketing request.
______________________________
Kristen Holmes
Assistant to the President for External and Cultural Affairs
Communications | Marketing | Museum | International | Government Affairs
256.352.8118 | office
256.339.2519 | mobile
kristen.holmes@wallacestate.edu
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