Black Midwives of Pennsylvania
The legacy of Black midwives and healers in Pennsylvania.
Honoring a Legacy of Care
Black midwives have been an integral part of maternal and infant health throughout Pennsylvania's history. Long before modern maternity care systems existed, Black midwives served as trusted birth attendants, healers, educators, and community leaders. Their work extended beyond childbirth to include prenatal support, postpartum care, breastfeeding guidance, family health, and community wellness.
In Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania communities, Black women built networks of care through churches, mutual aid societies, and family traditions, helping mothers and babies thrive across generations. Their knowledge, skill, and dedication laid an important foundation for maternal health in the Commonwealth.
Today, Black midwives continue this legacy by providing compassionate, culturally responsive care in homes, birth centers, clinics, and hospitals throughout Pennsylvania.
Continuing the Legacy: Black Midwives Today
Modern Black midwives carry forward a rich tradition of service while helping address ongoing disparities in maternal and infant health. They serve families in diverse communities, advocate for informed choice and respectful maternity care, and help ensure that mothers have access to safe, personalized birth options.
The Midwives Alliance of Pennsylvania recognizes and celebrates the contributions of Black midwives—past, present, and future—and is committed to supporting diversity, equity, leadership, and professional opportunities within the midwifery community.
MAP honors the generations of Black midwives who came before us and support those who continue this essential work today.
We WELCOME black midwifery students to contact MAP for support and opportunities to continue this heritage.
The Spotlight
Honoring the legacy that continues today
Camille Grant
Is a community-based midwife, educator, and advocate whose Afro-Indigenous Guyanese heritage informs her commitment to respectful, family-centered maternity care. She is dedicated to supporting pregnancy and birth as normal physiological processes through informed choice, education, and compassionate care.
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In addition to serving families in community birth settings, Camille is passionate about midwifery education, mentorship, and preserving traditional midwifery wisdom while promoting professional excellence and equitable access to care. Through her clinical practice, teaching, and advocacy, she works to strengthen maternal health outcomes and advance culturally responsive, individualized care for families throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.
You can find Camille at Wise Sage Midwifery
Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy
The Mothers of Modern Gynecology. The story of enslaved women who were forced to undergo experimental surgeries that laid the foundations for modern gynecology.​
"It must be acknowledged that these advancements were made through the exploitation of enslaved women’s bodies."
Black Maternal Health
Black maternal health remains a significant public health concern in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), maternal mortality rates in 2024 varied across racial and ethnic groups. The reported maternal mortality rate was 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births for non-Hispanic Black women, compared with 18.1 for Asian women, 14.2 for non-Hispanic White women, and 12.1 for Hispanic women.
Disparities are also reflected in infant health outcomes. In Pennsylvania, babies born to Black mothers died during their first year of life at a rate of 9.8 deaths per 1,000 live births between 2021 and 2023, nearly twice the statewide infant mortality rate.
At the same time, Black families remain underrepresented in the maternity care workforce that serves them. According to the American Midwifery Certification Board's 2024 Demographic Report, 8.7% of certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives identify as Black or African American, highlighting the importance of supporting and expanding pathways into the profession.
Research continues to demonstrate the value of midwife-led care. Studies have shown that planned home births and birth center births for appropriately screened, low-risk women can achieve outcomes comparable to hospital birth while reducing rates of cesarean birth, obstetric intervention, and other maternal morbidities. Community-based midwifery models have also been identified as an important strategy for expanding access to maternity care and improving patient satisfaction and continuity of care.
Black midwives have long played an essential role in caring for mothers, babies, and families. Today, they continue to provide skilled, relationship-centered care while helping to expand access to maternity services, strengthen community-based care models, and improve maternal and infant health outcomes.
The Midwives Alliance of Pennsylvania recognizes the contributions of Black midwives and supports efforts to strengthen the Black midwifery workforce, improve access to quality maternity care, and promote healthy mothers, healthy babies, and thriving communities throughout the Commonwealth.
References
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Maternal Mortality Data: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/hestat113.pdf
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American Midwifery Certification Board 2024 Demographic Report: https://www.amcbmidwife.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2024-demographic-report.pdf
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Pennsylvania Infant Mortality Data (March of Dimes Report Card): https://www.marchofdimes.org/peristats