Margaret Charles Smith
The original Alabama midwife
Well known as the midwife “who never lost a mother, and rarely lost a baby”, Margaret Charles Smith was a distinguished Alabama midwife. Having only completed third grade, Smith was committed to learning. She was introduced to midwifery early on as a child and began an informal apprenticeship with local midwives. In 1949, Smith obtained an official midwife permit in Greene County, Alabama. Regardless of the circumstances, Smith attended to mothers and all pregnancies. In rural Alabama, Smith was often called to high-risk deliveries and delivered multiple babies in one night.
Although Alabama eventually outlawed nurse midwives from practicing Smith was allowed to continue practicing due to her breadth of experience until 1981. In 1996, Smith co-authored Listen to Me Good: The Life Story of an Alabama Midwife, sharing her experiences as a midwife. Traditional Black midwives like Smith were an integral part to the development of modern midwifery. As she neared 100 years old, the 2008 film Miss Margaret documented her oral history. She died in 2004, at the age of 98.
Advocacy Note: Supported by all three nurse congresswomen, the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 was recently re-introduced in Congress — call your representative to help the pass the only bill written to address the Black maternal health crisis.
Sources
We sourced information for the above biography from Listen to Me Good: The Story of An Alabama Midwife, Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame, and The Ohio State University Press.
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