America was built off the births of Black slaves. Black midwives are the front line in the traditions of childbirth in America. Black slaves brought from the African continent brought with them the tradition of midwifery. In over 400 years of slavery the Black midwives would become Grand Midwives serving Black families through Jim Crow and maternal health disparities where Black women were not allowed to birth in local hospitals with white women.
"According to scholar Sharon Robinson, the first black lay midwife arrived in what is now America in 1619.[9] She came from Africa as an enslaved woman and served her community as a midwife and as a physical and spiritual healer.[9] During the reign of slavery in the United States, nearly every large Southern plantation, particularly in South Carolina, had at least one knowledgeable midwife-healer.[11] There is evidence that some freedwomen served as midwives on the plantations of their former masters for no charge to the plantation.[11] In some cases, plantation masters even rented out their enslaved grannies to neighboring plantations for additional income.[11]"
The Grand Midwives were replaced by white obstetrical science AND white midwives. Pushed into obscurity - it is evident in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, only ONE THIRD OF ONE DISPLAY mentions Grand Midwives of early American History. "350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) building has a total of 10 stories (five above and five below ground. Has close to 37,000 objects in its collection related to such subjects as community, family, the visual and performing arts, religion, civil rights, slavery, and segregation.[2] The museum has about 85,000 square feet of exhibition space with 12 exhibitions, 13 different interactives with 17 stations, and 183 videos housed on five floors."
This petition calls for the inception and education of the significant contributions made by Grand Midwives to have a more noticeable and informative exhibit for patrons to see and understand the importance of Grand Midwives to the development and economic growth of early America and the holistic contributions made by Grand Midwives to pregnancy, childbirth and post partum care - including breastfeeding. America could not have been built to be a super power it is today if not for Black slave births and Grand Midwives. It is the duty of the National Museum of African American History & Culture Administration incoudinf the Founding Director to emphasize this knowledge into mainstream education and awareness.
Grand Midwives are a critical contribution to America and these signatures petition Founding Director Lonnie G. Bunch III and the Board of Directors of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture to incorporate an exhibit fitting to educate and commemorate the legacy of Grand Midwives in Black and American history.
