Midwifery is a profession that is at least as old as the Bible. In Exodus 1:15-21,  Shiphrah and Puah were midwives who refused the Egyptian Pharaoh’s order to kill all newborn Hebrew males.

             The profession of midwifery in the Black community has a rich history dating back to the days of slavery. In the early 17th century, the slave trade brought some African slaves to America. Among them were women who brought generations of knowledge about childbirth to the American culture.   These African slave women, along with aboriginal native women of the land, made momentous contributions to midwifery in the early years of the United States’ existence.

               In the years following emancipation, Black women who entered the midwifery profession often did so out of a spiritual calling. These midwives became the matriarchs in our communities and they proudly handed down the skill from mother to daughter, while keeping strong ties to Aboriginal and African-based rituals and customs.

               Mrs. Beulah Childs Brooks is a legacy in her own right. She caught and witnessed the first breath of life of hundreds of babies in the Houston County communities over a period of 60 plus years. “Black and white alike, she birthed them all” according to her last living daughter, Ms. Christine Brooks Bivins.   “That’s a lot of “baby catching”.  Mrs. Brooks was born July 1, 1887 and died May 13, 1988,  just six weeks shy of her 101st birthday. She was born and reared in Houston County, GA to the parentage of Henry Childs and Alice Murph. She practiced her midwifery skills well into her senior years.  Dr. Carl Beard and Dr.  Joe Manning of Warner Robins, GA, worked alongside her for many of her later years.

           She was married to Rev. Robert “Bob” Brooks, Sr. and gave him 15 children. Mr. Brooks was the last person from the African Slavery system in Houston County GA to die at the remarkable age of 120 years old.  He out-lived two of his three wives, and several of his 42 children.  Rev. Brooks also preached at several churches throughout Houston County.

           Paying homage to the other midwives of the Houston County area, I searched them all out on the United States Census of 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940.  The names of those midwives are listed below.  I am sure there were probably many more, but unfortunately their names are lost to history, with no documentation left behind of their existence.  To those wonderful women who “caught” so many babies and experienced their first breath of life, I pay reverence to them as well.