Granny midwives, the Black women in the rural South who ensured safe and healthy deliveries, were more than traditional birth attendants. They were community-based caregivers whose work laid the groundwork for birth justice, protecting Black women’s ability to give birth safely in a society that often denied them care.

Lineages of Knowledge, Presence, and Advocacy

Midwives began their training by assisting at births at a young age, learning through apprenticeship and knowledge passed down within families. They supported people during pregnancy, stayed with them after birth, and helped care for newborns. 

One such midwife was Margaret Charles Smith, who practiced in Alabama for more than 35 years. Smith emphasized cleanliness, calm reassurance, and maternal dignity, demonstrating that granny midwives maintained high standards of care long before institutional medicine recognized their value. During the time she practiced, infant death rates ranged from 8% in 1940 to 2% in 1980, yet Smith lost very few babies over the thousands of deliveries, demonstrating the skill and care that granny midwives brought to their work.

Midwifery knowledge was passed from one generation to the next. One such case is that of Onnie Lee Logan, a Mississippi midwife turned author and educator, who learned midwifery from her mother. She developed a family-centered approach that included fathers during birth and used simple yet effective techniques, such as positioning the body to support safe labor. In Logan’s autobiography, Motherwit, she explained the discipline and responsibility required to be a midwife and challenged the belief that granny midwives were untrained or careless.

One of Logan’s students, Mary Francis Hill Coley, became one of the most widely known granny midwives. Her work was documented in the 1952 film All My Babies, which captures her practice during a period of increasing regulation and scrutiny of midwives. Even as state oversight intensified, Coley continued to focus on respectful, hands-on care for Black mothers and babies.

Granny midwives helped Black families survive and grow through some of the hardest periods in American history. They show that reestablishing birth care rooted in trust, community, and respect is a legacy essential to shaping Black futures.