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NEWSLETTER | May 13, 2021

We explore the connection between history and today's headlines. Have an idea for us? Email news@retroreport.com or talk to us on Twitter @RetroReport. Please share this email with a friend.

For care in pregnancy and childbirth, some Black parents are turning to a traditional practice.

Bringing Midwifery Back to Black Mothers


SARAH WEISER Producer
ANNE CHECLER Editor

The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy countries, and Black women are dying in childbirth at more than double the rate of white women. In our latest documentary video, we explore how midwives – specialists in caring for women during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period – are using skills honed over centuries and working with obstetricians to improve those odds.

The film uses archival footage to illustrate the ways childbirth became increasingly medicalized, pushing midwives aside.

“It wasn’t until medicine decided to start professionalizing itself at the beginning of the 20th century that suddenly, midwives were a little bit of a threat,” Michelle Drew, a certified nurse-midwife, told us.

“Before we were Black midwives, we were Black women. And we have the same shared living daily experiences that these women have.”
– Patricia Loftman
Certified nurse-midwife

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted racial disparities in health outcomes, re-energizing a movement to improve Black birth outcomes and reduce maternal mortality through a return to this traditional model of care.

“There are studies that compare what happens when you have low-risk cases dealt with by obstetricians and low-risk cases dealt with by midwives, and generally midwives do better,” said Eugene R. Declercq, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University.

This video is a collaboration with The New Yorker. Read more here.

'Watching Litter,' Madison Square Park, 2017.

Retro Report Recommends . . .

The Retro Report team suggests articles, podcasts and videos that interest, impress and inspire us. Do you have a pick you'd like to share? Let us know: news@retroreport.com.

. . . Gas lines of the past
Drivers across the South lined up for gasoline this week, their fears of a shortage fueled by the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline that supplies the East Coast after a cyberattack. Sound familiar? "If you are of a certain age, you surely recall sitting in the back of your family's station wagon (with no seatbelts of course) waiting hours on end in the 1970s to get a gallon of gas," Meg Jacobs writes in an exploration of the roots of panic. [CNN]

. . . An overview of Indian history
A second wave of coronavirus is devastating India. Here are 14 books that illuminate the history of the country and its impact on the rest of the world, compiled by Senjuti Patra, an economist and history buff who was born and raised in Bankura, a small town in India. [Book Riot]

. . . More on microwaves
Dizziness. Headaches. Brain damage. The first reports of ailments came in 2016, from the American and Canadian diplomatic missions in Cuba. Similar cases have been reported in other places, including China, Washington and Syria. Suspicion fell on a secret microwave weapon.  But there’s no evidence that such a weapon exists. [Foreign Policy]

. . . Treasure from trash
“A History of Trash in Sight” is a digital reconstruction of New York City public trash cans and their contents from 1930-1960. Each decade’s trash can contains a turning point about “public trash,” along with ideas about cleanliness and control that still resonate in our understanding of trash today. [Trash in Sight]

We Use History to Explain Our World, and We Show Why It Matters.

Retro Report is an Emmy Award-winning nonprofit news organization dedicated to uncovering the ways news of the past continues to resonate today. Our documentary videos blend original reporting and compelling archival footage to add history and context to the conversation around current events. We're currently working remotely, and we meet daily via Zoom, above.

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