Jonathan Odell Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

Jonathan Odell, author of The Healing, set in the pre-Civil War South, interviews retired midwife Mrs Willie Turner of Midnight, Mississippi, who was 91-years-old at the time of the interview in 2002.

Jonathan Odell writes, "In 2002, I had the honor of sitting down with Mrs. Willie Turner of Midnight, Mississippi, a retired midwife. At the time, she was 91 years old and eager to talk about the profession she loved and felt she was called by God to do. The questions I asked are the following:"

PART 1

1. How many children did you help birth? 0.16
2. How busy did you stay? 1:00
3. Did some mothers get scared? What did you do to calm them? 4:25
4. How did you get around to your patients? 5:44
5. Did any of the women fight you? 10:09
6. How did you raise a family and be a midwife? 10:42
7. What were the homes like? 12:54

PART 2

1. When did you decide you wanted to be a midwife?
2. How did you learn?
3. Tell me about a typical delivery.
4. What were some of the most difficult deliveries?
5. Were some babies born not breathing? What did you do?

Most of the photos are of ex-slaves, midwives and sharecroppers taken in the 1930's by artists working for the WPA, archived in the Library of Congress. This video was developed by James Kuether and Random House.