Dorothy Hadley Bayen

Dorothy Pauline Hadley was born in Evanston, Illinois on 20 November 1906.^[1][2] Her father Joseph Hadley was a waterworks labourer. Her mother, Dora Hadley, born 27 February 1881, was a housewife.

Bayen attended Foster Middle School then Evanston Township High School graduating in 1924. After finishing high school Bayen initially attended Northwestern University, located in her hometown of Evanston. In addition to studying Bayen also worked at the university, likely to help finance her education. Bayen later transferred to Howard, a predominantly black university in Washington D.C., where she also took on work whilst pursuing her studies.^[1][2][3]

Bayen met her husband, Malaku E. Bayen, whilst they were both students at Howard University. He was studying medicine. They married in Fairfax, Virginia on 29 September 1931.^[4] She was 25, he was 31.^[2] Many newspapers carried news of what was view as an exciting union between an Ethiopia prince and his African-American princess. However, claims by the press that Bayen was a prince were considered an exaggeration. Even though he was a distant relative of Emperor Haile Selassie he was not of the immediate royal household and thus not a titled prince.

Malaku "Chips" Bayen Jr., the Bayen's first and only child, was born in 1933. He worked in the performing arts in various roles, most notably as a lyricist and saxophonist.^[5]

Bayen moved to Ethiopia with her husband and young son in 1935, upon completion of his studies and qualification as a medical doctor.^[2] They sailed from New York to Paris in June, then travelled from Paris to Marseille by train, from Marseille to Djibouti by sea, and from Djibouti to Addis Ababa by road.^[2] The last leg of their journey by land reportedly took 12 days.^[2]

Soon after their arrival in Addis Ababa, Bayen's husband had a mental breakdown. Though he quickly recovered, the outbreak of the Italo-Ethiopian War took him away from his young family when he was dispatched to the frontline, leaving his wife to cope with life in a country she was not used to. Left alone with their young son, Bayen indicated in letters to her junior sister, Leora Hadley, that she felt isolated with her husband away and unable to speak the local languages. In one letter, Bayen narrates how she didn't feel like celebrating Christmas alone and lonely. These letters can be found in the Dorothy Hadley Bayen papers at Yale University.^[6]

After a few months in Ethiopia, Bayen was contacted by the New York Amsterdam News and in February 1936, she became its wartime correspondent, reporting on the Italo-Ethiopian war for the African-American newspaper.^[2] This, however, was to be short-lived as the Bayens, along with Emperor Haile Selassie and other members of the royal court, were forced to flee Ethiopia when the Italian forces approached Addis Ababa.

The Bayens travelled with the royal entourage first to the United Kingdom where they stayed for a short while before leaving his imperial majesty for the U.S. At the behest of Haile Selassie, Bayen's husband was to become the Emperor's Special Envoy in the U.S., championing the Ethiopian cause against Italian aggression. The family arrived in the U.S. on 23 September 1936, docking at Ellis Island, New York.^[7]