Introduction

It is hard to imagine that women did not always have the opportunity to choose what hospital or doctor they could use for childbirth. In the early twentieth century, most women delivered their children at home with a doctor or midwife present. Similarly, it was common for African American women, regardless of social-economic status to have their children at home. Throughout slavery, older African American women were called upon to attend both Black and White women who were giving birth. Following slavery, African American midwives could be paid for their services. During the 1920s in Norfolk, Virginia, African American midwives assisted in numerous births after they received training from local physicians and nurses. As time and medical technology changed, the African American midwife came under fire for the increase in infant and maternal death rates. This, along with a nationwide movement to transfer women from home births to hospital births in case complications arose, pressured many African American midwives to stop practicing their trade.