“Go to Ruth’s House”: The Social Activism of Ruth Lubic and the Family Health and Birth Center

Abstract

This case of the work of Ruth Watson Lubic, an internationally known nurse midwife and women's and children's health care activist, provides a modern-day example of the intersection of forceful individual personalities, nursing as a type of activism in itself, and grassroots and local actions that produce larger movement-based activist organizations. Her work as a nurse midwife, in partnership with other nurse midwives, physicians, and community members, illustrates how the efforts of individual actors at a grassroots community level can be as significant as larger traditionally situated activist movements on the lives of everyday citizens.