Maude Callen
South Carolina’s Legendary Midwife
Maude Callen, a nurse midwife, was introduced to healthcare at an early age. She was raised by her uncle, a physician in Tallahassee, Florida where she helped care for his patients. She attended Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, and received her nursing degree from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1921. Relocating to South Carolina, Callen ran a community clinic out of her home where she was one of nine professional nurse midwives in the whole state. She hosted food and clothing drives, vaccine clinics, and often transported patients to hospitals.
In 1936, after the development of the division of Maternal and Child Health she was hired as a public health nurse for Berkeley county where she trained midwives. Her contributions to midwifery were featured in LIFE magazine which garnered national support and donations that allowed her to open the Maude E. Callen Clinic in 1953. This clinic provided care to the community until her retirement in 1971 in which she transitioned the clinic into a senior citizen nutrition support center. Up until her death, Callen managed the center and provided meals to the seniors five days a week. Maude Callen was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame and awarded the Order of the Palmetto. Known as the “Angel in Twilight” her dedication to the community lives on.
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 the above information from the SC Scripture Project, and the South Carolina African American History Calendar.
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