One of perhaps the most distressing and shocking photos from 20th-century America depicts a young mother hiding her face in shame while her four children stand together, looking confused.
It is notable that there was a sign in the photo that read, “4 Children For Sale, Inquire Within” beside them.
Sadly, whether staged or not, the photo captures a serious situation. It was first published in the Vidette-Messenger, a local paper in Valparaiso, Indiana, on August 5, 1948.
The children were indeed being sold by their parents and were eventually bought by other families.
Take a look at this heartbreaking photo: four kids sitting on their front steps while their mom shields her face from the camera. Her name was Lucille Chalifoux, just 24 years old and pregnant with her fifth child.
The Valparaiso Vidette-Messenger published the photo on August 5, 1948. The caption shared the ages of the children and gave some context, but not much background for such a sad story.
“A big 'For Sale' sign in a Chicago yard mutely tells the tragic story of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Chalifoux, who face eviction from their apartment. With no place to turn, the jobless coal truck driver and his wife decide to sell their four children. Mrs. Lucille Chalifoux turns her head from camera above while her children stare wonderingly. On the top step are Lana, 6, and Rae, 5. Below are Milton, 4, and Sue Ellen, 2.”
After the photo was published, it caught the public's attention. It quickly spread to newspapers in many states, reaching as far as Texas and New York.
After a newspaper in Chicago Heights published a heartbreaking photo with a caption, a woman from the area offered to help the children. Soon after, many others stepped up, offering jobs, homes, and money.
The family received financial assistance, but it's not clear how it was used or if it only helped them for a short while.
Finally, the children were sold. After giving away her five children, Lucille remarried and went on to have four more daughters.
A couple named John And Ruth Zoeteman paid $2 for RaeAnn. She recalls that her younger brother Milton was crying so hard that the couple decided to take him too.
Remembering the situation, RuthAnn doesn't see it as her mom trying to care for them, but more like needing money for herself. There is no evidence that they paid additional cash for Milton, or how much it would have been.
The couple were farmers who ended up using their "adopted" kids as forced labor. Life on the farm wasn't easy for RaeAnn and Milton.
They were often chained up in the barn and made to work hard. It seemed like the Zoetemans saw them as free labor rather than children they cared about. Milton even remembers being called a slave by his new “father.”
At the age of 17, RaeAnn endured what she described as years of terrible suffering in her new home, where she claimed to have been subjected to slavery-like conditions.
It was a heartbreaking event that she was kidnapped from her adoptive family's house and subjected to a horrifying act of sexual assault. This traumatic experience resulted in her becoming pregnant, causing her adopted family to feel deeply shocked and appalled.
They made the decision to send RaeAnn to a specialized facility for unwed mothers. Sadly, her baby was taken away from her and placed for adoption.
Following this heartbreaking event, she made the difficult choice to leave the Zoetemans and never return, seeking solace elsewhere.
Presently, she lives with her adult son, who, when reflecting on his mother's life, describes it "like a horror story."
As for Milton, it is reported that he responded to the beatings, starvation, and abuse he endured by experiencing fits of intense anger. That grew increasingly violent as he grew older.
According to one writer, "A judge deemed him a menace to society, and he spent a number of years in a mental hospital after being forced to choose between that and a reformatory."
David, the son who was yet unborn when the photo was taken, was given away when he was just two years old. His birth name was Bedford Chalifoux, but he was legally adopted by Harry and Luella McDaniel in July 1950.
His condition reflected that the Chalifoux home had not been a good one. He had bed bug bites all over his body when the McDaniels received him.
Despite being strict, his adoptive parents were loving and supportive. David recalls riding his bike to visit his siblings and unchaining them before heading back home.
At 16, David ran away from his adopted home. He decided to join the military, which helped him turn his life around and leave behind the rebellious teen years he had experienced before running away.
The siblings didn’t know what happened with Lana and Sue Ellen. But, years later they were able to reconnect with them. Sadly, Lana had passed away in 1998 after battling cancer.
On the brighter side, Sue Ellen had grown up not too far from where they all started, living in Chicago's East Side neighborhood.
The Chalifoux children got separated when they were sold young, but thanks to social media, some of them found each other later in life. In 2013, Sue Ellen Chalifoux got to meet her sister RaeAnn.
This was a big deal because Sue Ellen was very sick with a lung disease. RaeAnn, who was 70 years old at the time, had not seen her 67-year-old sister Sue Ellen since they were little kids.
It was a touching moment for the sisters to reunite after so many years apart. Despite the hardships they faced growing up, they were finally able to reconnect and share their lives with each other.
RaeAnn Mills later revealed that her mother was selling her and her siblings to get money for bingo and her mom's boyfriend didn't like the kids much.
Milton, who was adopted alongside RaeAnn, was pretty indifferent: “My birth mother, she never did love me. She didn’t apologize for selling me. She hated me so much that she didn’t care.”
Sue Ellen didn't hold back when talking about her biological mom, Sue Ellen said, “She needs to be in hell burning”. David, who wasn't even born when his siblings were sold, holds the least anger towards the woman who did it.
But some of his sisters, who remember that day well, have strong words for her. “We're all human beings," David said. "We all make mistakes. She could've been thinking about the children. Didn't want them to die.”
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