Motherwit

"Motherwit" and "common sense" were the watchwords of Onnie Lee Logan's career as a lay midwife in Mobile County, Alabama. Although she received little formal education, endured the Depression and faced a racist society, Onnie Lee Logan experienced her life as the triumphant fulfillment of a dream to be one of those who could bring babies into the world, as her mother and grandmother had done before her. Her story, told in the soft, now vanishing dialect of the Deep South, is powerful and fascinating oral history. Motherwit follows her life through her work as a servant for a wealthy Mobile family, her troubled marriage during the Depression, and her struggle to become a licensed midwife. We watch as she delivers the babies of both black and white women of Alabama--losing only one baby in 40 years. Onnie Lee Logan's forbearance in the face of the crushing prejudice of the rural South makes inspiring and unforgettable reading. When she passed away in 1995, the New York Times declared her a “folk hero,” and Time called her book “a feminist classic.” Filled with startling drama and profound wisdom, Motherwit is an important contribution to African-American history. "An amazing story. A heroic woman and life after my own heart." Alice Walker "To have told her own story, to have borne this eloquent witness to her life is Onnie Lee Logan's final triumph." Ellen Douglas in the Washington Post Book World "Oral history doesn't come much better than this." Booklist "Beautiful...her passion rings through in every line." Los Angeles Times

A Dalit, a Buddhist and a feminist: Urmila Pawar’s self-definition as all three identities informs her stories about women who are brave in the face of caste oppression, strong in the face of family pressures, defiant when at the receiving end of insult, and determined when guarding their interests and those of their sisters. Using the classic short story form with its surprise endings to great effect, Pawar brings to life strong and clever women who drive the reader to laughter, anger, tears or despair. Her harsh, sometimes vulgar and hard-hitting language subverts another stereotype — that of the soft-spoken woman writer. Pawar’s protagonists may not always be Dalit, and the mood not always one of anger, but caste is never far from the context and informs the subtext of each story. As critic Eleanor Zelliot notes, there is ‘tucked in every story, a note about a Buddhist vihara or Dr Ambedkar.... All her stories come from the Dalit world, revealing the great variety of Dalit life now.’ Published by Zubaan.

This text examines how African Americans have created distinctive forms of religious expression. Contributors explore the degree to which newly imported slaves preserved their African spiritual heritage whilst meshing it with Western symbols and theological claims.

Written to empower women, this text offers advice on finding ways to creatively heal oppression and pain, and to grow in stength and wisdom. It contains exercises for healing, growth and psychic development, designed to deepen self-knowledge. The book asserts that for humanity to survive, women must come to know their power. It argues that the reader must reclaim those traits which have been traditionally labelled feminine and make them the province of all humanity. As human beings we must uncover the true power and so empower ourselves and all people.

Mother Wit By: Malaika B. Horne, PhD “This book describes in a vivid and poignant manner the remarkable ability of a mid-twentieth century Black woman—living under conditions of Apartheid as practiced in the United States—to overcome harsh and even grotesque societal obstacles, and succeed in rearing six children. That each of them went on to excel in their chosen fields is worthy of serious contemplation. In addition, the reader is provided insight and illumination on still taboo topics such as “colorism” and intra-group violence that engender and nourish self-hate among many in the African American Community. Moreover, the author’s penchant for candor is coupled with a constructive theme of hope and faith in the future.” ~~William M Harvey, PhD, psychologist “This is not just an evocative, at times heart-rending, portrait of an African-American mother but, as well, a colorful depiction of a Mississippi cum St. Louis family grappling with Jim Crow. In well written prose worthy of a cinema production, this book is an instant classic meriting a place on the top shelf alongside Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Richard Wright.” ~~Gerald Charles Horne, PhD, University of Houston “A moving tribute to a devoted mother whose determination, dedication and strong character allowed her family to breach barriers of race, class and economic want to achieve measurable success. Dr. Horne’s story of a loving mother with a keen intelligence who sacrificed all for her children is touching, inspiring and above all, instructive.” ~~Gwen Moore, curator, Missouri History Museum “Mother Wit is a love letter, first to Horne’s visionary mother Flora and then to the story of imperfect people making their way, together, in an even more horribly imperfect world. This is a story of color, of cruelty, of family and of coming to understand. Horne has written the kind of family history that tells the reader much more than the surface of the story. The lives of her characters, family members across several generations, are built upon the context of racism and all the byproducts thereof. Reading their stories and seeing the strength of Flora and the children she raised, is testament to tenacity and hope.” ~~Faith Sandler, executive director, Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis “Blessed is the mother who inspires her children to have aspirations and shows them the necessary steps to take to make those aspirations a reality. Malaika B. Horne writes, with a captivating style about such a mother, detailing the complex journey to attain seemingly simple goals, with clarity and forthrightness.” ~~Blanche M. Touhill, PhD, chancellor emerita, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Winner of the 2019 American Association for the History of Nursing Lavinia L. Dock Award for Exemplary Historical Research and Writing in a Book “Catchin’ babies” was merely one aspect of the broad role of African American midwives in the twentieth-century South. Yet, little has been written about the type of care they provided or how midwifery and maternity care evolved under the increasing presence of local and federal health care structures. Using evidence from nursing, medical, and public health journals of the era; primary sources from state and county departments of health; and personal accounts from varied practitioners, Delivered by Midwives: African American Midwifery in the Twentieth-Century South provides a new perspective on the childbirth experience of African American women and their maternity care providers. Author Jenny M. Luke moves beyond the usual racial dichotomies to expose a more complex shift in childbirth culture, revealing the changing expectations and agency of African American women in their rejection of a two-tier maternity care system and their demands to be part of an inclusive, desegregated society. Moreover, Luke illuminates valuable aspects of a maternity care model previously discarded in the name of progress. High maternal and infant mortality rates led to the passage of the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act in 1921. This marked the first attempt by the federal government to improve the welfare of mothers and babies. Almost a century later, concern about maternal mortality and persistent racial disparities have forced a reassessment. Elements of the long-abandoned care model are being reincorporated into modern practice, answering current health care dilemmas by heeding lessons from the past.