Abstract
Midwife Margaret Charles Smith, a 91-year-old midwife, and Linda Janet Holmes, a long-time friend and historian of Alabama's midwives, have combined their talents to present a fascinating and powerful account of the career of Alabama's oldest living midwife. Born in Greene County, Alabama, in 1906, Margaret Charles Smith attended nearly 3000 births between 1949, when she received her midwife permit, and 1981, when she attended her last birth. During her distinguished midwifery career, she never lost a mother and rarely lost a baby. Despite her impressive record, as well as those of other midwives, Alabama joined with many southern states in the mid 1970s to enact laws that effectively ended the practice of lay midwifery. In fact, between 1976 and 1981, some 150 black Alabama midwives lost their midwifery permits. Each of the six chapters of this work begins with a sensitive introduction by Holmes that places the actual words
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
