Welcome to the Tweep Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette. Hey, girl.
And you are tuned in to Tweep Trends. It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Happy Black History Month. Let's get started.
When Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week back in 1926, he realized the importance of providing a theme to focus the attention of the public. Now, the intent was never to dictate or limit the exploration of the Black experience, but instead to bring the public's attention to important developments that deserve their attention. So it's not saying that because there's a theme you should only focus on this.
There's a theme. Take a look at that while you focus on the other things that are important to you. Now, if we take a look back at what some of the recent themes were back in 2017, the theme was The Crisis in Black Education. 2018 was African-Americans in times of war.
2019 was Black Migrations. 2020 African-Americans in the vote. And then 2021, The Black Family, Representation, Identity, and Diversity. Now, drum roll for what the theme of 2022 is, it is Black Health and Wellness.
The 2022 theme, Black Health and Wellness, considers activities, rituals, and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well. So that means we're not just talking about Black scholars and medical practitioners. We're talking about everybody that has something to do with well-being. So whether it's a birth worker, a doula, midwife, naturopath, herbalist, and that list goes on because there are so many different categories, different people that aid in the wellness of the community.
And so when you think, though, about the community and what they've done, they've built hospitals and medical and nursing schools, such as Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Providence Hospital and Training School, Morehouse School of Medicine, and so forth. So what we had to do is we had to create the clinics, clinics were established by individuals as well as grassroots organizations. Because what was found is that if you provide the spaces in the community for the people to get whatever assistance they need, then they don't have to go to the mainstream institutions where disparities and discrimination was just running rampant. Today, I want to highlight Granny Midwives.
Now, dating back to the 1600s, Black midwives have played a leading role in providing care during labor and delivery for thousands of women. The Granny Midwives were well-respected Black women from the South who provided care to poor and rural women during pregnancy and labor at a time when hospitals were not accessible to them. They were family counselors, breastfeeding consultants, postpartum doulas, nutritionists, and advocates. Their skills and knowledge were invaluable and laid the foundation for modern midwifery.
Now, beginning in the early 1800s, new legislation regulated the practice of midwifery and required medical training and licensing. Now, the Grannies who could not or would not comply with the state law went from being well-respected to persecuted and were forced out of practice, resulting in birth injustices. Now, despite the medical health care system's effort to eliminate Black midwives from the bedside of pregnant women, it did not improve outcomes and, in fact, had astronomical impacts on Black women. Research now shows the use of midwives and doulas can close the gap between outcomes for different ethnic groups, making it evident that the granny midwives had it right.
The grannies taught us trusted people are imperative in creating a support system where women are successfully guided through pregnancy. Research also shows that having caregivers of the same race and culture can lead to improved birth outcomes and greater satisfaction in health care services. Midwifery has played a critical role in improving care in outcomes, especially for Black families. And today, I want to recognize and honor the contributions by the Granny midwives.
Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode, being the first day of Black History Month and the first episode talking about Black History Month and the theme. So I haven't done this in a while, but let's consider making some donations. The first would be through the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, also known as Asala, A-S-A-L-H. They are a 501-C-3 organization.
You can also consider giving to one of the many places that we mentioned earlier as well, meaning, Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Providence Hospital in Training School, Morehouse School of Medicine, any place like that that supports African-Americans, medical, anything along the way, health and wellness, anything along those lines, okay? I look forward to hearing where and what you're going to do to celebrate Black History Month, as well as the theme, Black Health and Wellness. And I look forward to going through the rest of this month with you. See you guys on Thursday.