The Women Who Caught the Babies: A Story of African American Midwives

This poetry collection traces the part African American midwives have played in welcoming babies and caring for families. An opening section gives broader context on midwifery, while poems move from Africa and slavery through emancipation, the early 1900s, and the early 2000s. They show shifting conditions: women gaining freedom, a midwife summoned by horse and buggy, and later arriving by car. Across these changing eras, the poems return to the pain and love bound up with birth. The final poem honors Miss Rovenia Mayo, the midwife present at the author’s birth.