Bjoring Center Nursing History Forum on April 16, 2024

Randolph Award Lecture

"Unearthing Black Midwifery Stories in Virginia"

Linda Janet Holmes

April 16, 2024, 12 - 1 p.m.

McLeod Hall, Room 5060 and on Zoom

Lunch provided

Ms. Holmes will present key findings from her interviews with midwife descendants, mothers, doulas and contemporary health-care providers who recognize the contributions of historic Black midwifery care in Charlottesville and in surrounding communities. Reasons for continuing Black midwifery traditions also will be discussed.    

Linda Janet Holmes is the 2024 recipient of the Bjoring Center’s Agnes Dillon Randolph Award for her outstanding scholarship documenting the experiences, knowledge, and practices of Black midwives in the U.S. and across the African diaspora. A writer, independent scholar, and long-time women's health activist, Holmes is the author of Safe in a Midwife's Hands: Birthing Traditions from Africa to the American South (Ohio State University Press, 2023) and co-author of Listen to Me Good: The Story of an Alabama Midwife, with Margaret Charles Smith (Ohio State University Press, 1996). Her other books include A Joyous Revolt: Toni Cade Bambara, Writer and Activist (Praeger, 2014) and the anthology Savoring the Salt: The Legacy of Toni Cade Bambara (Temple University Press, 2007).

We hope you’ll join us in person or on Zoom!

Maura Singleton
Center Manager
Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry

[email protected]
434.924.0083; 434.989.1550 (cell)

UVA School of Nursing
202 Jeanette Lancaster Way
P.O. Box 800782
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0782

www.nursing.virginia.edu/nursing-history/