Midwives have been assisting mothers from the beginning. In the U.S.A., Black women brought here as slaves were experts and served other Black women and then white women. As the medical profession tried to get a monopoly on childbirth, midwives were discredited. In Missouri in the late 70s, Janet Akremi and others developed some of the first standards for certifying midwives. Those standards were accepted by law and by the courts and went on to be used throughout the country. Listen and learn how important midwives can be in building healthy families.