Delivered by Midwives

African American Midwifery in the Twentieth-Century South

De: Jenny M. Luke

Narrado por: Lianne Walker

Winner of the 2019 American Association for the History of Nursing Lavinia L. Dock Award for Exemplary Historical Research and Writing in a Book.

“Catchin’ babies” was merely one aspect of the broad role of African American midwives in the twentieth-century South. Yet, little has been written about the type of care they provided or how midwifery and maternity care evolved under the increasing presence of local and federal health care structures.

Using evidence from nursing, medical, and public health journals of the era; primary sources from state and county departments of health; and personal accounts from varied practitioners, Delivered by Midwives: African American Midwifery in the Twentieth-Century South provides a new perspective on the childbirth experience of African American women and their maternity care providers. Author Jenny M. Luke moves beyond the usual racial dichotomies to expose a more complex shift in childbirth culture, revealing the changing expectations and agency of African American women in their rejection of a two-tier maternity care system and their demands to be part of an inclusive, desegregated society.

©2018 University Press of Mississippi (P)2025 Redwood Audiobooks

Reseñas de la Crítica

"An exemplary and comprehensively detailed work of meticulous and documented scholarship..." (Midwest Book Review)

"A significant addition to the literature on this subject and on midwifery in general." (Southwestern Historical Quarterly)

"The book stands as a historical record and shows how health care can function effectively even in the most challenging circumstances." (Women in Higher Education)