# The Fultz Sisters

The Fultz Sisters (born May 23, 1946) were a set of American quadruplets who gained notoriety for being the first identical African American quadruplets on record. They appeared in advertisements for PET baby formula and were featured in Ebony magazine. They were also known as the Fultz Quads in the media.

## Life

The Fultz sisters were born on May 23, 1946, in Reidsville, North Carolina. They were born prematurely, at about 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) each. They were born in the segregated basement wing of Annie Penn Hospital. They were delivered by Fred Klenner, a white doctor who had served the family for years prior. Klenner had expected triplets. Klenner was assisted by a Black nurse named Margaret Ware. The hospital had no incubators, so the babies were wrapped in cotton gauze blankets and placed close to one another for warmth. They underwent dropper feeding and incubator nursing.
Their parents were tobacco sharecroppers James "Pete" Fultz Jr. (born April 15, 1893, in Madison, North Carolina) and Annie Mae Troxler Fultz (born May 14, 1909, in Rockingham County, North Carolina). Annie Mae, who was African American and Cherokee, had been deaf and mute since contracting meningitis as a child. Neither Pete nor Annie Mae could read. The sisters had six older siblings: four brothers and two sisters. Pete had two brothers with multiple births; one had one set of twins, and the other had three sets of twins, and each had 15 children.
When they were born, Annie Mae considered several sets of names: Betty, Clara, Billie, and Anne; Laurinda, Belinda, Lucinda, and Magenda; and Rosetta, Loretta, Margretta, and Henrietta. The sisters were ultimately named by Klenner, who chose the name "Mary" followed by names of women in his own family, naming the sisters Mary Louise, Mary Ann, Mary Alice, and Mary Catherine.
Klenner experimentally treated the sisters with high doses of injected vitamin C, believing like Linus Pauling that this treatment contributed positively to their health. Klenner, who was originally from Pennsylvania and of German American descent, was later described in local press as "either very Old South or an outright racist", according to O magazine. During World War II, he had openly been a Nazi sympathizer and defended Adolf Hitler. His office often contained white supremacist and conservative materials, such as pamphlets from the John Birch Society and the White Citizens Council and a poster for George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign.
The Fultz sisters—also known as the "Fultz Quads"—were the first identical African American quadruplets on record. Their birth garnered national attention due to the low chances of a couple conceiving quadruplets and the family's social status as poor and Black. Milk companies Pet, Carnation, and Borden presented deals to Klenner. Pet was selected, and Klenner was awarded a contract, which was administered by his sister-in-law Susie Sharp. Pet agreed to support the sisters for the first ten years of their lives. For the Fultzes, the Pet contract provided property and a 24-hour nurse, Elma Saylor, who was also Black. The family was also provided four mules. Pet purchased 148 acres (60 ha) of farmland near Madison and constructed two homes with electricity, running water, and bathrooms: one for Saylor and the Fultz sisters, and one for the remaining Fultz family.
The sisters finally left the hospital at five months old, with nurses continuing their vitamin treatments. Saylor and Ware were considered the sisters' caretakers, and the rest of the Fultz family was allowed to visit them without restrictions.
In 1947, Annie Mae became pregnant with an eleventh child, a boy named Leonard. In 1950, the sisters met President Harry S. Truman.
Saylor was a piano player, and taught the sisters to sing. In 1952, the Fultz sisters were legally adopted by Saylor and her husband. The Saylors had previously had a child die due to polio. Pet bought a house for the Saylors in Milton, 30 miles (48 km) from the Fultz farm, and the sisters moved there. Annie Mae and Pete remained on the farm, though it was unproductive. The Fultzes and their friends and family cited infertile land, while Pet blamed Pete and said he drank too much.
Pet Milk targeted the Fultz sisters to help bring in Black urban consumers. During the 1940s, Black communities did not buy baby formula because it was too expensive. This led to most mothers breastfeeding. Pet Milk launched a campaign that convinced Black mothers their formula was superior to breast milk and made record-breaking profits.
In November 1959, when the girls were 13, they performed as a string quarter in the annual Orange Blossom Festival in Miami, Florida. They also appeared in magazines such as Ebony. They first appeared in Ebony at age one. The Fultz sisters were so popular that, at one point, there was an ad that offered an autographed picture of the sisters.
The sisters appeared on television shows and met Presidents John F Kennedy and Harry Truman and Black sporting legend Althea Gibson.

## Impact of music

Music was a large part of the Fultz sisters' lives. They went to Bethune–Cookman University to study music. They were accepted into the college as one unit and received a four-year scholarship to attend there. While in college, the sisters were inseparable. But from having medical problems to skipping classes, their grades dropped drastically low. They attended the university for at least two years until the school asked their parents to remove them. The forced withdrawal from the school, according to their nurse Elma Saylor, eventually put the girls in a state of depression for a long time.
They eventually returned home to live with Elma Saylor and her husband. The Fultz sisters still tried to maintain some sort of fame and decided to go into show business. They developed an amateur band at 22 years old, and tried working in nightclubs. Among all four of the sisters, they learned to play the piano, guitar, viola, drums, cello, violin, and organ. As a group they were able to harmonize together, but each sister had different musical talents. Later, they all became nurses' aides, following in the footsteps of their long-time caretaker Mrs. Saylor.

## Deaths

Mary Louise died April 1, 1991 (age 45); Mary Ann died in 1996 (age 49); Mary Alice died October 7, 2001 (age 55); and Mary Catherine died October 2, 2018 (age 71). All four sisters had breast cancer, and Mary Louise, Mary Ann, and Mary Alice died of breast cancer. Mary Catherine died of cancer in her spine and chest. Before Mary Catherine died, she expressed her belief that their cancer was caused by the vitamin shots administered to the sisters as children.