The Fultz Sisters

The Fultz Sisters or Fultz Quad, (May 23, 1946) became the first identical African-American quadruplets on record, and appeared in advertisements for PET baby formula.

Life

The chances of a couple conceiving quadruplets in the 1940s, decades before the availability of fertility treatments, and the fact that the family was poor and black made this a sensational story that garnered nationwide media attention. The Quads’ parents, Pete Fultz, a sharecropper, and Annie Mae Fultz, deaf-mute mother, lived on a farm with their six other children and were too poor to care for the babies. The Fultz Quadruplets were born May 23, 1946 at three pounds each. The doctor who delivered the children, Fred Klenner, was a family doctor in a small southern town. Dr. Klenner, gained fame for attending the birth of the first recorded set of black quadruplets.

Fame and Business Deals with PET Milk Corporation

After their birth, the Fultz Quad began to be featured in advertisements for a baby formula company called PET Milk Co.. The Quad sisters were featured on the covers and in magazine spreads of black magazines like Ebony, in which they first appeared at the age of one. The sisters appeared on television shows and met presidents and celebrities such as Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Althea Gibson.

Cultural References

• A picture was taken of the Quad Sisters with President Kennedy, which is in the White House Archives or the JFK Library.
• The Quad sisters appeared in many Ebony magazine spreads and black publications.

References