Problems of Racism and Challenges to Professionalism

Abstract

Despite their recognized importance to maternity care African American nurse-midwives experienced both racial and professional discrimination. This chapter underscores the unyielding obstacles of racism. Issues of segregation, unequal pay for black nurses, and lack of funding led to the closure of the Tuskegee School of Nurse-Midwifery, and the American Association of Nurse-midwives determined that whiteness was central to its concept of the professional midwife. Physician-centered maternity care was advocated as a solution to what was termed racial dualism in health care and ultimately the implementation of the wartime Emergency Maternal and Infant Care accelerated the shift toward hospital birth.