The Man Who Took Nine Girls: How Richard Miller’s ‘Crazy’ 1979 Choice Changed the World
“Everyone said he was crazy: a white man who adopted nine Black baby girls abandoned in an orphanage. In 1979, Richard Miller ignored the world and raised them as his own. Now, 46 years later, their extraordinary legacy has shocked the same people who once called him a fool.
Richard Miller’s world had fallen silent in 1979.
His wife Anne had passed away after a sudden illness, leaving him with an empty house filled with echoes of the children they never had. His friends urged him to remarry, to “start over.” But Richard clung to Anne’s last words:
“Don’t let love die in me. Just give them somewhere to go.”
He didn’t know what that meant – until one stormy night, fate led him to St. Mary’s Orphanage.
The Night That Changed Everything
Inside the orphanage, the air was thick with disinfectant and despair. And there, in one tiny room, lay nine baby girls — all left together.
They were tiny, wrapped in thin blankets, their cries mingling in a desperate chorus.
No one wanted them all. The plan was to divide them up, to scatter them among different homes.
But as Richard bent down, something inside him opened.
“I’ll take them,” he whispered. “One by one.”
The crew couldn’t believe it.
“A white widow, alone, raising nine black babies?” The social workers shook their heads. “Impossible. People would never accept it.”
But Richard’s voice didn’t waver.
“They’re sisters. And they’ll always be sisters.”
The World’s Judgment
From the start, the world thought she was crazy.
Relatives laughed at her. Neighbors whispered, “What’s a white man doing raising nine Black girls?” Supermarkets became battlefields of stares and whispered insults.
Even the girls, as they grew up, asked. “Dad, why don’t we look like you?”
Richard’s answer was the same:
“Because love isn’t always the same. But it feels the same.”
She worked two jobs. She burned dinners. She learned how to braid hair, pack school lunches, mend torn clothes, and sit through endless choir recitals.
And he never thought about giving up.
The struggles
Money was tight. Richard often didn’t have new clothes for his daughters. Christmas presents were second-hand. Vacations were rare.
But the girls had what mattered: love, resilience, and the fierce knowledge that their father would fight the world for them.
When bullies at school taunted them, Richard showed up. When teachers belittled them, he demanded better. When people whispered in the church pews, he held their hands tighter.
“You don’t need the world’s approval,” he told them. “You just need to know that you are enough.”
Nine Sisters, Nine Journeys
Years passed.
One became a doctor, determined to heal children the way he once needed healing.
Another became a lawyer, fighting for voiceless foster children.
A third rose to fame as a professor, writing books about race, family, and property.
Two became entrepreneurs, creating businesses that employed single mothers.
One became a musician, his voice filling concert halls.
Another became a social worker, helping children in the orphanage where he was once abandoned.
The youngest of the two? One an engineer. The other, a pastor.
Nine girls. Nine women. Nine legacies.
Forty-six years later
Now, Richard is 82 years old. His hair is gray, his hands are unsteady. But when he sits on his porch in Ohio, surrounded by nine women – and their own children – the world finally understands.
The “crazy” man who adopted nine unwanted babies has created a dynasty of strength, love, and purpose.
Reporters who once laughed at him now beg for interviews. Politicians who ignored him now respect him. Strangers who once whispered “stupid” now whisper “hero.”
And Richard? He just smiles.
“I didn’t raise black girls,” he says quietly. “I raised my own children.”
The Legacy
Between them, Richard’s daughters have:
23 children.
7 Advanced degrees.
3 published books.
Hundreds of children helped through the programs they founded.
The sisters remain inseparable, gathering for Sunday dinners, laughing at memories of their father burning spaghetti or falling asleep mid-story.
“We were so few,” says one daughter. “He gave us everything that mattered.”
The Lesson
In 1979, Richard Miller’s choice was called foolish. Reckless. Even dangerous.
But 46 years later, his daughters stand as living proof that love — even when it defies logic, prejudice, and practicality — has the power to change the world.
The man who adopted nine unwanted girls gave them more than a home. He gave them a future.
And in return, they gave him back the one thing he thought he had lost with Anne: a family.