For Smith, understanding your roots is just as essential as planning your future. His role as a family historian officially began when he started researching his maternal grandfather.

“It’s a heavy lift for me,” Smith said. “But it’s interesting to me because a lot of the traits that I see in my ancestors ... I see relatable things with folks that are in my family now that may have not even met them.”

Smith’s latest project is honoring the work of his great grandmother, Mary Alberta Childs, and his great-great grandmother, Hattie Miranda Stewart Barnes. The mother-and-daughter duo were notable midwives in the city. Smith estimates that between 1910-1960, they delivered roughly 2,000 babies in Henry County.

Last year, the women were honored with their own streets in McDonough, marking the first time that Black women had a street named after them in the city. Now, Smith wants greater recognition for the women whose stories aren’t widely known.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

From learning to preserving

Smith first heard about the midwives when he was 10 from his grandmother, Lillie, who sometimes helped her mom with “catchin’ babies,” as she called it. The midwives were born in Butts County, attended Mt. Carmel Baptist Church and were buried in McDonough Memorial. Barnes, aka Ma Hattie, was born in 1887 and raised 10 children. She died in 1958, decades before Smith was born. His grandmother Childs, aka Big Mama, was born in 1902 and raised seven children. She died in 1992 when Smith was 7.

“(Expectant mothers) were afraid to go to hospitals because, a lot of times people didn’t come back, so they would die in the hospital. That baby may have made it, but the mother didn’t, so I think that was something that really struck me about both of them,” Smith said.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

McDonough resident Barbara Holland, 69, was one of the many babies Childs delivered. There was a lack of accessible healthcare for Black people during her childhood, she said. Grady Hospital was the nearest available hospital, and it was segregated until 1965.

“You’re talking about 30 and 40 miles from our home in Henry County, and not very many people had cars, so it was her who delivered the babies in the home. My mom had a long and difficult labor. My mother was 40 years old when she had me. I came 13 years later from the other siblings, but (Childs) was there the whole time.”

As a child, Holland recalls kids in the area joking that every time they saw Childs enter a home, she’d leave a baby there.

“We wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a Mary Alberta Childs,” she said.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

In 2010, Smith began piecing together some of that history to learn more about his ancestors. With the help of Ancestry.com, he learned about their children and other details. But it wasn’t until 2021 that he felt inspired to expand his research.

During that time, Smith received a call from the Henry Board of Education. Melanie Kellam, who previously served as a social studies specialist for the Henry County School District, was tasked with conducting research for a Black History Month social media campaign. The board wanted to honor historical figures within the community who contributed to health and wellness.

Not long into her research did she find how central Black midwives were to the community, especially in the South.

“The granny midwives (a term used for Black midwives in the rural South) were considered holistic caregivers,” Kellam said. “You would go to these granny midwives if you had (an ailment), and they would tell you to get an aloe plant or just little remedies from things that you have to help yourself. Common remedies from that time period included castor oil, the aloe plant and turpentine.”

Through oral histories from people in the area and Ancestry.com, Kellam stumbled upon the work of Mary Alberta Childs and Hattie Miranda Stewart Barnes. Kellam said conducting the research and seeing people react to the campaign online became a source of pride and inspiration for the community.

“If you got pregnant back then, you didn’t have a lot of options as a young woman. You didn’t know if you were going to make it because so many died. These midwives were actually trying to figure these things out and take on these roles to help these women through this time.”

Seeking recognition

When Kellam shared with Smith what she found, “He took it and ran with it,” she said.

Since then, the midwives, with Smith’s help, have received a proclamation for their contributions from McDonough Mayor Georgia Sandra Vincent. March 21 is now recognized as Mary Alberta Childs Day and Hattie Miranda Stewart Barnes Day in McDonough. In 2022, Henry County City Council approved the naming of Mary Childs Street and Hattie Barnes Street. A ceremony took place last May.

Henry County Councilman Rufus Stewart, 71, was happy to ensure the midwives’ legacy will be remembered. Mary Alberta Childs delivered him as a baby.

“She touched a lot of people. She made sure a lot of people went to their appointments, she was involved in voter’s registration and all of that stuff. She was a big part of the community.”

Now Smith is broadening his effort to get recognition. So far, he’s sent more than 100 letters to colleges and universities to see if the midwives can receive honorary degrees in nursing and science.

He also plans to develop a database of all the babies Barnes and Childs delivered to get an accurate count. Possibly having a park in the community that’s named in their honor isn’t out of his purview, either.

“I feel like it’s my duty to make sure that people know them, the line of work that they did and that there are still people doing it now,” said Smith. “Maybe they didn’t get their credit then, but I want them to have it now.”