The hidden history of what happened to thousands of Black midwives in the South

Midwife going on a call, carrying her kit, near Siloam, Greene County, Ga. (Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information) (LIbrary of Congress)

In the early 1900s, thousands of Black midwives worked throughout the South, delivering Black and white babies and providing desperately needed reproductive care.

By the 1980s, they’d been systemically pushed out of the South’s healthcare landscape by public health officials and a mostly-white medical establishment.

These women birthed our nation. So here’s a quick history lesson to honor the South’s “granny” or Grand midwives, their contributions and their legacy.

Midwife in her house near Siloam, Greene County, Ga. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information) (Library of Congress)

1619

Black midwives brought knowledge, skills and traditions from African cultures to America after their enslavement, including birthing positions and the use of herbs to ease labor. Until the late 1800s, most U.S. births were attended by midwives, many of them Black or indigenous.

Midwife in doorway of her house near Siloam, Greene County, Ga. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information) (Library of Congress)

1870s

After Emancipation, thousands of Black midwives, often called “granny midwives,” continued to attend births for Black and white women, especially in the South. They were often the sole healthcare provider for rural families.

Midwife wrapping her kit to go on a call in Greene County, Ga. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information) (Library of Congress)

1910s-1930s

As childbirth became more medicalized, states began requiring lay midwives to register with health boards. Black midwives continued to care for Black mothers, who were not welcome in segregated hospitals.

Beatrice Borders delivered hundreds of babies as a midwife in rural Georgia in the first half of the 20th century. She also converted her home into a birth center. (Photo courtesy of the Georgia B. Williams Nursing Home Inc.) (Georgia B. Williams Nursing Home Inc.)

1930s-1940s

Death rates for women & babies attended by midwives were often the same as or better than those attended by physicians. One 1930s study in Alabama found maternal & infant mortality rates for Black women attended by midwives were lower than for white women attended by physicians.

Midwife Onnie Lee Logan leaves the Mobile County Board of Health on Cox Street in Mobile, Ala in 1982. Logan, who'd been delivering babies for 35 years, would be the last midwife in Mobile County, due to a new state law prohibiting the certification of new midwives. (Photo by Aaron Tesney, Mobile Press-Register) (Aaron Tesney)

1940s-1960s

White doctors & public health officials began campaigns to persuade women to abandon Black midwives in favor of doctor-attended hospital births. By 1950, more than 80% of all deliveries occurred in hospitals. Midwives attended less than 10%.

Zayda Gibbs, a midwife in Perry County, Ala. (Photo by Frank Sikora, Birmingham News) (Frank Sikora)

1970s

Southern states rushed to pass laws ending lay midwives’ ability to practice. Within a few years, the medical establishment and public health officials had effectively shut Black lay midwives out of the healthcare system.

Keonta Battle, center, with her birth team at Oasis Family Birth Center in Birmingham, Ala. (Courtesy of Oasis Women's Health) (Courtesy of Oasis Women's Health)

21st Century

More than 98% of U.S. babies are now born in hospitals, attended by doctors. But a renewed interest in midwifery means the number of midwife-attended births is steadily increasing. Nationwide, groups are working to improve the Black midwife workforce.

A few good reads and first-person narratives about the history of the South’s Black midwives.

Listen to Me Good by Margaret Charles Smith & Linda Janet Holmes

Motherwit by Onnie Lee Logan

Going to Ms. Bea’s by J. S. LaVern

Why Not Me? By Wendy Bovard and Gladys Milton

Delivered by Midwives by Jenny M. Luke