February is Black History Month, and we will be taking the month to learn about anti-racism for the future as well as black history. We believe that learning about history from the perspectives of those who lived it is important if you can, and we LOVE the amazing resources that are available now in our community as well as nationally. In our line of work, black history is especially important for many reasons, one of which we’ll talk about in this post.
Before 1900, most babies were born at home into the hands of midwives, and the black granny midwives were a massive part of that legacy. In a country that continues to profit off the labor of stolen lives, this legacy of maternal and infant care is one that especially deserves to be celebrated. When chattel slavery was still legal in this country, midwifery was a skill that made a slave more desirable for purchase:
Midwives were the connection between birthing families and the care they needed, and black midwives were often the only people who reach families where they were with congruent care tailored to their needs. That included when the birthing families were still in chains. When the US outlawed the importation of any further slaves, midwives helped usher the souls who would be chained to build our economy too. What a conflicted challenging life they were forced to lead. Even after the end of slavery, black midwives traveled the rural areas that doctors wouldn’t or couldn’t.
When they could, black women continued to help their communities by attending medical school like Dr. Sarah Loguen Fraser who was the 4th African American female doctor in the United States. She specialized in obstetrics and pediatrics, and mentored black midwives too. Black communities held each other together throughout history here in the United States despite exploitation, oppression, and violence.
Black midwives like Susie Cary, and her daughter Amanda Cary Carter after her, continued to help catch the babies in their communities, long after hospital birth became the norm amongst those who could afford it. Eventually, through a concerted public relations campaign that utilized racist tropes (such as dirty and uneducated) traditional black granny midwives were pushed out of practice. There are museum exhibits to explore and books to read now about their history. My to-read list includes these 2 currently: The Archaeology of Mothering & Birthing a Movement.
The most important thing to me about history is that we can learn from it. That means both that we can try to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, but also that we can benefit from the wisdom of the experience of others. As an anthropologist, I firmly believe that truly understanding history from the viewpoint of the oppressed and those not in power is especially important, and that makes black history top of the list in the United States for so many reasons. I specifically chose the featured image on top there because it is a colorized version of a black and white picture from a time in history that my parents can tell me stories about now; they lived it. History is a weaving together of multiple narratives and artifacts to find the truth in our past, all the while acknowledging that we are still very much impacted by the events we can only read about and observe through these things.
Keep learning. Stay curious. Interrogate your assumptions. We’ll keep doing so too!