Who were the Granny Midwives?

From the arrival of Africans to America in 1619  until the mid-20th century, when obstetricians and hospitals became the primary location for delivery, granny midwives provided most of the care for poor and rural pregnant women–black and white–throughout the South. Granny midwives were healers trained in their communities, a legacy of slavery but also central to health care during segregation.

The granny midwives were well respected Black women from the South who provided care to poor and rural women during pregnancy and labor at a time when hospitals were not accessible to them. They were family counselors, breastfeeding consultants, postpartum doulas, nutritionists, and advocates. Their skills and knowledge were invaluable and laid the foundation for modern day midwifery.  The majority had a mother or aunt who had also been a midwife. They practiced family centered maternity care while using three practice modalities of folk, professional and motherwit for enacting their practice.