African American children in Mennonite families bridge two worlds
Janelle and Jasmine Newswanger lead simple, contented lives in one of Pennsylvania's Mennonite communities.
The 17-year-old twins drive a horse-drawn buggy, wear long dresses and white head coverings, and see their friends at church on Sundays.
Done with education at 14, after finishing eighth grade, Jasmine works as a teacher's aide, and Janelle helps her mother around the house, speaking Pennsylvania Dutch and English.
The girls blend in with the people in their lives, set apart in only one way.
Janelle and Jasmine are African American.
They are among about 100 children, most of them black, born to women who were incarcerated at Pennsylvania prisons and sent by their mothers to Mennonite foster families in Central Pennsylvania as part of an informal caretaking program. About 29 remain in Mennonite homes.
