Blossoms in the Dust

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“Blossoms in the Dust” is the title of a 1941 movie that stars the inimitable Greer Garson as Edna Gladney, a Texas woman who championed the rights of unwanted infants (the blossoms playing in the Texas dust).

Gladney (1886-1861) founded the Texas Children's Home and Aid Society. She struggled to overcome prejudice and lobbied the bureacracy to strike the word "illegitimate" from official records and birth certificates:"there is no such thing as an illegitimate child, only illegitimate parents."