White Midwife Allyship During Black History Month

Two Black midwives, advocates, and social media dynamxs, Aiyana Davison (@thevaginachronicles) and Łódź Joseph (@thehaitianmidwife), have written an open letter to the midwife community. In it, they discuss a racist white-washing of midwifery history that occurred during the 2019 Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NSRH) conference. This gross misrepresentation of midwifery's history and the erasure of Black midwifery and midwives of color was not an isolated event: it happens repetitively in academic programs, is written as such in midwifery history textbooks, and is reinforced within professional organization meetings and conferences every year.

Midwifery as a profession in the United States began with Native Americans, and continued with Black Midwives in the South. Midwifery and nursing as they are known today were founded on nascent white patriarchal medical systems that destabilized the historical knowledge of Black Grand Midwives. Nursing, and the white dominance of nursing as well as white cis-male medical knowledge, persisted in the establishment of nursing and midwifery over the years as the profession grew in popularity and established modern organizational structures. This white-dominated growth continued across the waves of white feminism and throughout racist decades, and continues today. A significant minority representation of Black midwives and midwives of color persists across all sectors of the midwife profession: students in academic programs, didactic faculty, organizational leadership, popular authorship, invited plenary and highlighted speakers, and in popular midwifery on social media.

Aiyana and Łódź composed this open letter as a call to action. A call to attention. A call to recognition and community. A call for advocacy and allyship. They have done so purposefully during Black History Month. The letter lists specific asks and recommendations. Here are a few briefly quoted:

1. Simply stating that ‘I am not responsible because I am not racist’ is not how racism works and midwifery is not exempt from institutional and individual racism.
2. Midwives of color need to be accepted and graduate from midwifery programs at the same rate as their white peers. Student midwives and new graduates need extensive support.
3. White midwives to become allies and anti-racist and acknowledge midwifery history.
4. Listen to midwives of color for the benefit of midwifery and the people we serve.

This Black History Month, occurring during the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, I implore white midwives to push yourself further in your allyship and advocacy for Black midwives and midwives of color. In accordance with the suggestions of Aiyana and Łódź, here are a few specific ideas:

• Share the open letter. Share specifically what the letter means to you, how it made you feel, and why it should matter to the people who will read it in your networks. Share the letter on your personal social media, on your professional listservs, at your workplace, and with your alma mater. Share it with language that directly addresses white supremacist language and white normative practices that contribute to racist infrastructures (Rachel Cargle and Jen Winston's Instagram feeds have great examples of language if this is still new to you). If the letter made you feel angry or defensive, really consider why, and know that response is built in racism and needs to be examined and broken down within yourself.
• Intentionally plan your allyship with Black midwives this month. Share their work on social media. Start with Aiyana and Łódź, and then find extensive community of Black midwives through their work. If you share statistics about racism in healthcare and maternal / infant mortality and disparities, share an equal number of stories of Black resilience and success, which exist alongside each other. Embark on Layla Saad's "Me and White Supremacy" if you haven't already. Consider how much / little you know about the history of midwifery, and find the history out yourself and share it with others.
• Evaluate how your midwifery work supports Black midwife students and students of color, and what you need to improve. Ask students of color how you can be supportive of their learning and growth in the profession. Develop a network of support systems for midwifery students of color outside of yourself as a white midwife, which acknowledges your limits and recognizes the unique needs of Black students and students of color. Consider your own racism work as part of this: What explicit bias are you aware of and still need to address? Have you sought implicit bias training, and what further training are you planning? Did you support the Melanated Midwives scholarship by sharing on your page or donating? How do you listen to the student midwives' struggles in their programs, and how do you help? And how does that look similar or different for Black student midwives or midwives of color?

Start there. Then let's talk about what white allyship at ACNM and within similar midwifery organizations should / can / needs to look like.

Have more ideas to share? Comment here and I'll update this post with more ideas throughout the month.

In solidarity,

Stephanie (Feminist Midwife)