An Open Letter From Two Black Midwives To Our Community

Happy Black History Month!

As you well know- EVERY DAY is Black history but we do take this time to honor on our roots and hopefully others will do the same and learn some things in the mean time. Well, I have been working on something special with a close Midwife sister—Lodz Joseph. After attending a conference last year (Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health) we realized that there are some common misconceptions about the roots of midwifery. In using our voices at this time, we also have now taken the opportunity to write an address our midwife community. We sought to call out some of the misconceptions and fallacies and offer solutions for the embedded racism and lack of diversity within. Below is the request we sent out to share with folks within our community and you will find the actual open letter linked at the bottom as well. Out of this we hope for change and we would be honored, if after you read it, you find it in your heart to share. Thank you for being with us in the work—we know there is so much more to be done!

Happy 2020!

Hope that the New Year is filled with joy and purpose.

We are writing you today because we are committed to shedding light on the aftereffects of an event that took place late 2019. As the World Health Organization deemed 2020 as ‘The Year of the Nurse and Midwife’, we wanted to share our experience. This letter serves to inform and remind the public and our community of critical issues faced in our healthcare system.

We attended the Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NSRH) conference where incorrect information regarding the origins of midwifery in the United States, the role of Frontier University in midwifery history, and Margaret Sanger’s legacy, were shared. We took the time to address the keynote speaker and the fallacies but recognized there is more work to be done in nursing and midwifery regarding tradition, history, legacy and racism. This event was not the realization of such information, but it was a trigger that led to continued inspiration for this letter and current and future work for both of us.

We would like to know if you would be willing to share this letter on your platform during Black History Month starting Monday, February 3rd, 2020. Although the plan is to never have to write another letter like this again, we will continue writing, speaking, advocating, and fighting for the decolonization of midwifery, the integration of reproductive justice and its place in midwifery, and the consequential work that follows these changes.

This is a labor of love and a reminder of our lives as black womxn and black midwives. Thank you for taking the time to read and share. We hope that as you read it, you too will be further inspired and willing to share our words with others so that not only will there be correction of misinformation, but also impactful action.