Photos: Black midwives in Georgia

Life

Photos: Black midwives in Georgia

Images of Black midwives in Georgia studying and praciticing their skills ithrough the years, as part of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Black History Month coverage.

Black midwives, such as this one in Greene County in 1941, have continued traditions that date back to before slavery. Those traditions are challenged today by modern health regulations. (Jack Delano / Library of Congress)

By the outset of World War II, Georgia required midwives to seek certification from the state board of health and attend regular training classes. Taught by white health officials, those classes focused on promoting cleanliness and new techniques. In this class from 1938, midwife Georgia Barron demonstrates on a mannequin how to prepare for childbirth. (Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society, MS 55-VM01-02-556)

In June 1938, the Historical White Oak Baptist Church at Monteith, Ga., welcomed the newest graduating class of midwives. The midwives were licensed to practice for the year 1938-39. (Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society, MS 55-VM01-02-568)

Midwives continued to be a crucial part of Black communities in the South, even after health reformers in the early 20th century tried to eliminate the practice. ”They were pillars of their community,” said Sarahn Henderson, a modern-day midwife in metro Atlanta. (Jack Delano / Library of Congress)

Sarahn Henderson has been a midwife for 41 years in metro Atlanta and has extensively researched the history of Black midwives in the South. A key mission of her practice, Birth in the Tradition, is to honor many of the birthing customs brought to America with the first African slave ships some 400 years ago. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Henderson's collection of tools used by midwives during the early and mid-1900s, including a baby scale in the lower right. The collection was given to her by a midwife she interviewed. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Henderson, who is known as Mama Sarahn to her peers, has extensively researched the history of Black midwives in the South, looks through an illustrated “Manual for Midwives” textbook once used by the Georgia Department of Public Health. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Henderson demonstrates how the old baby scale works. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Henderson shows off a Georgia Certificate to Practice Midwifery. Today, the state licenses a certain class of midwives who have nursing degrees, but it no longer recognizes so-called direct-entry midwives like Henderson, who trained for years as an apprentice but does not have a medical background. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rimani Kelsey-Rogers, center in yellow, gives birth to her daughter Sadia in her Atlanta home on Dec. 18, 2020. She's being tended by two midwives, a doula and her husband, Greg. (Photo courtesy of Chanda Williams)

Kelsey-Rogers, center, greets her new daughter Sadia shortly after giving birth. Midwives Nasrah, left, and Sarahn Henderson, right, help tend to the new baby. (Photo courtesy of Chanda Williams)

Certified nurse-midwife Christine Taylor, owner of the practice Birth by Grace, holds a birthing class for a few couples in Peachtree City on a Saturday last month. The families are planning home births under the guidance of Taylor and doula Dawn Hutcherson. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Parish Munroe, left, is shown massage techniques by Christine Taylor on mother-to-be Kiah Munroe during the Birth by Grace Midwifery class. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Munroe, top, practices massage techniques, birthing positions and strategies with his wife Kiah Munroe. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

First-time parents DeMarus and Sierra Perry participate in the Birth by Grace Midwifery class in Peachtree City on a Saturday last month. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Lyric Behn and Devante Johnson practice a position and get a little silly at the Birth by Grace Midwifery class while working through options and positions for giving birth. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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Black midwives, such as this one in Greene County in 1941, have continued traditions that date back to before slavery. Those traditions are challenged today by modern health regulations. (Jack Delano / Library of Congress)

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