Web Resources

For Doulas & Midwives of Color:

• The International Center for Traditional Childrearing (ICTC) is a group focused on African American Doulas, Midwives and mothers, particularly regarding the prevention of prematurity. Everyone can join and request a newsletter.

• Forward Together is a multiracial organization dedicated to social policy change and empowering women, youth and families by providing knowledge and resources to communities. You can sign up for their newsletter and keep up with the organization’s work in the community!

• The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health is an organization addressing a variety of reproductive justice issues. Their mission is “to ensure the fundamental human right to reproductive health and justice for Latinas, their families and their communities through public education, community mobilization and policy advocacy.” You can check out their website for updates on their work in the community, and sign up for their email list, which is open to everyone.

• Sister Song is a collective of 80 organizations for minority women and their allies aimed to educate women of color about their reproductive rights, advocate for access to health care services, and empower women to raise their voices and advocate for themselves and their communities. Sister Song represents 5 primary ethnic populations: African American, Arab American/Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latina, and Native American/Indigenous.

• The National Advocates for Pregnant Women is an organization seeking to protect the rights and dignity of all women, including women of color and low income women. NAPW has a variety of programs aimed to educate and advocate for women’s reproductive rights, not only regarding abortion rights but also the right to birth in a supportive environment without restrictions.

 

More Collectives and Group Resources

• Mamas of Color Rising, according to their website, “is a collective of working class and poor mothers of color based in and around Austin, TX. We are interested in organizing ourselves and other women/mamas of color around issues with accessing needs like food, housing, education and safety, finding out together what our larger ideal community looks like and building it together.” Check out their website to learn more about what the collective is doing to empower and build their community!

 

Research Studies: 

“The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is one of the nation’s premier research and public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses exclusively on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color. For over three decades, our research and information programs have informed and influenced public opinion and national policy to benefit not only African Americans, but every American.”

The center has done thorough research in Maternal Nutrition and Infant Mortality in the Context of Relationality, Black women & Breastfeeding and Race, Stress, and Social Support: Addressing the Crisis in Black Infant Mortality.

Click the link below to read their publications:

http://www.jointcenter.org/index.php/publications_recent_publications/health/(offset)/15

Deadly delivery: The maternal health care crisis in the USA, by Amnesty International

“More than two women die every day in the USA from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. This summary is based on the report at AMR 51/007/2010 which shows the human cost of systemic failures and highlights the steps that are urgently needed to move towards a health care system that respects, protects and fulfils the human right to health without discrimination.”

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/019/2010/en

Recommended Books:

Midwifery and Childbirth – General

Block, Jennifer. Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2008.

Cassidy, Tina. Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born. New York: Grove Press, 2007.

Donnison, Jean. Midwives and Medical Men: A History of the Struggle for the Control of Childbirth. New Barnet, Herts, UK: Historical Publications, 1998.

Gaskin, Ina May. Birth Matters. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2011.

Wagner, Marsden. Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.

African American Midwives

Bovard, Wendy and Gladys Milton. Why Not Me? The Story of Gladys Milton, Midwife. Summertown, TN: Book Publishing Co. , 1993.

Fraser, Gertrude Jacinta.  African American Midwifery in the South:  Dialogues of Birth, Race, and Memory.  Harvard University Press, 1998.

Lee, Valerie.  Granny Midwives and Black Women Writers:  Double-Dutched Readings. New York: Routledge, 1996.

Logan, Onnie Lee and Katherine Clark. Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife’s Story. New York: Dutton, 1989.

Susie, Debra Anne. In the Way of Our Grandmothers: A Cultural View of Twentieth-Century Midwifery in Florida. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1988.

Smith, Claudine Curry and Mildred Baker Roberson. My Bag Was Always Packed: The Life and Times of a Virginia Midwife. Bloomington, IN: First Books, 2003.

Smith, Margaret Charles and Linda Janet Holmes. Listen to Me Good: The Life Story of an Alabama Midwife. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1996.