Remembering Summer of 1967

MAGA are building unwed mother's home again as they killed Roe vs. Wade. This is terrifying. I this from my heart and from my experience in the summer of 1967. My parents were conservative one day and liberal the next day. Watch the video. I worked 9 hours on this project.

Information is from

JSTOR+1

And me, Vicki, in the summer of August 2025

Journalist, author, musician, artist, psychic dreamer, age, 75

Societal Stigma and Pressure

During the 1960s, unmarried mothers were often subjected to harsh societal judgment and stigma. Many women who found themselves pregnant outside of marriage were sent to maternity homes, where they could give birth away from public scrutiny. These homes provided shelter and care but were also places where women felt immense pressure to relinquish their children for adoption. Historian Kim Heikkila highlights that many women felt they had "no other choice" but to surrender their babies, often due to the prevailing attitudes that labeled them as "illegitimate".

JSTOR+1

Adoption Practices

The adoption process during this time was heavily influenced by societal norms. Between 1952 and 1956, an estimated 1.5 million babies were placed for adoption in the United States, with many of these adoptions occurring through maternity homes. Approximately 80% of women in these homes surrendered their children, reflecting the societal expectation that unwed mothers would not raise their children. The stigma surrounding illegitimacy led to a culture where many women felt they had to hide their pregnancies and the circumstances surrounding their births.

JSTOR+1

Personal Stories and Experiences

Personal accounts from women who lived through this era reveal the emotional turmoil they faced. For instance, Francine Gurtler, who gave birth at 15, described being coerced into giving up her child, stating, “They literally took him from my arms”. Such experiences were not uncommon, as many women were pressured by social workers and the institutions that cared for them to place their children for adoption, often without adequate support or options to keep their babies.

JSTOR+1

Mother and Baby Homes During the 1960s, Mother and Baby Homes were established to provide support for unmarried mothers. These homes offered residential assistance, typically from six weeks before the due date until six weeks after childbirth. Many women faced societal stigma and were often coerced into giving up their babies for adoption, reflecting the harsh realities of the time. In the UK, 11,000 to 12,000 unmarried mothers were catered to each year in these homes, amidst a total of around 70,000 births to unmarried women. The experiences of these women varied widely, with some homes being more supportive than others. Overall, the 1960s marked a significant period of change regarding societal attitudes towards single motherhood, as many women navigated the challenges of raising children outside of traditional family structures.

In the 1960s, unmarried mothers faced significant societal stigma, often giving birth in secret and placing their children for adoption due to cultural pressures and limited support.

The regressive and the restrictive: Heterosexual marriage and nuclear family supremacy

When Project 2025 declares that it wants to promote married families, it means just one 'kind of married' family: “married mother, father, and their children,” considered to be “the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society (p. 451)”

“LGBTQ+ equity”? They want that repealed. Helping single mothers? No more of that either. Also, nothing that could be construed as a “marriage penalty.”

Single mothers, absent fathers, and their children come in for quite a lot of stereotyping and stigmatizing. The report claims that “Fatherlessness is one of the principal sources of American poverty, crime, mental illness, teen suicide, substance abuse, rejection of the church, and high school dropouts.”

Project 2025 is a time in the bottle back to 1850. We will not go back.

Time in a bottle

Of dreams

It seems

I remember 1967

Unwed mother’s homes

Girls became pregnant

They were called whores

They were forced to live

A lie

As I was one of those girls

In the world

Of the summer of 1967

Seems like a horror film

As now in this decade of 2025

They are building them across America

Once again

To place females into hell

Force them to give up

Their babies to rich white folks

Never to see them again

I remember tears streaming down my face

Of disgrace

Of believing I was a whore

Even my mom called me a whore

Mom told everyone I was at the beach

I did come back medium olive as

I lay on the sand every day to bathe

In the sun

Forget everything & everyone.

Depression was severe

But the authorities, churches, right wingers

Did not care,

I remember taking a bottle of aspirins

To kill the pain

As I thought I would go insane

But I survived the summer of 1967.

The seventies came and I was a free woman

I read every book in the school library

Still an ache in my heart

For the child I had to give away

So today

It is 2025

At 75

I am still alive

Women have lost their rights again

To selfish right wingers

Of Christian nationalism

Of fake people

Of the patriarchy

Of men and women of prejudice lies

Here we are back

In doomed in Nazi land

Of women as third-class citizens again

I never want to see

That happened

The guilt

The shame

I felt at 17 was terrifying

Uncouth,

Patriarchal obnoxious men

Of the church and beyond

I poured myself into college

From 1969 until 2002

There were no mental health therapists

Other than your priest

To confess your sins

Walk out of the booth

Crying as you drive your car

Away to Malibu beach 3am

I was rejected by my illegitimate son

Because I am a creative humanitarian, I poured myself

I poured myself into college

From 1969 until 2002

Not uncouth

Patriarchal obnoxious men

Of the church and beyond

And it is what it is.

I write now

I create art

I believe in truth

Women are intelligent too

The seventies, the eighties, the nineties, the 2000s are in the past

At last

Except history repeats itself

I cried today

A tear

In the year

Of 2025

A dystopian society

Ruled by bigots, liars, thieves, and crooks

Of ugly white men

Calling themselves God

It is what it is

But they are not God

Mary Magdalena was not a whore

But uncouth.

Patriarchal obnoxious men

Of the church and beyond are whores.

And neither am I

Never was

But white patriarchal

White Christian nationalist are whores

Bigots, liars, and assholes.

My opinion

As an old, educated lady

Used to rejection

Because I am an eccentric artist

That is very irritating to conservative fucks.

es lo que es aquí estamos de nuevo

è quello che è

I have been in therapy for ten years after I became an old lady turning 76 on September 18, 2025.

created, written, edited by

Vicki Lawana Trusselli

copyright 2025

Trusselli Art