“Midwives have been in the world probably as long as there have been human babies on earth. With this book, though, I want to take you back only as far as the Africa of a few hundred years ago. That’s when millions of Africans were forced from their homelands, brought to America and enslaved. Some of the enslaved were midwives.” – Eloise Greenfield
The Women Who Caught the Babies highlights important aspects of the training and work of African American midwives and the ways in which they have helped, and continue to help, so many families by “catching” their babies at birth. The blend of Eloise Greenfield’s poetry and Daniel Minter’s art evokes heartfelt appreciation of the abilities of African American midwives over the course of time.
With many award-winning books to her credit, Eloise Greenfield has achieved her status among the most celebrated of children’s authors. Multiple lifetime achievement awards include the ALA Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, a Living Legacy Award, a Hope S. Dean Award, an NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children among others. She has been inducted into the National Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent.
Africa Dream received the Coretta Scott King Award while the Coretta Scott King Author Honor and an ALA 2012 Notable Children’s book honored her title, The Great Migration: Journey to the North. She received the Carter G. Woodson Award for Rosa Parks. For Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems, she received the 1990 Recognition of Merit Award, presented by the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books. She received the Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Award for Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir, written with her mother, Lessie Jones Little. These are just some of Eloise Greenfield’s many awards.
Daniel Minter is a painter and illustrator. His paintings, carvings, block prints and sculptures have been exhibited both nationally and internationally at galleries and museums, including the Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Bates College, Hammonds House Museum, Northwest African American Art Museum, Museu Jorge Amado and the Meridian International Center.
Minter lived in Chicago and Brooklyn before moving to Portland, Maine where he now resides with his wife, Marcia, and their son, Azari. From his base in Maine, Minter uses his art as a tool for dialogue with his community. He is the co-founder and creative visionary of the Portland Freedom Trail. Minter serves on the board of The Ashley Bryan Center, The Illustration Institute and teaches at the Maine College of Art. He serves as board chair of The Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations.
Minter has illustrated 12 children’s books, including So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom; Step Right Up; How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness, and Ellen’s Broom which won a Coretta Scott King Illustration Honor; Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story, winner of a Best Book Award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio; and The Riches of Oseola McCarty, named an Honor Book by the Carter G. Woodson Awards. Down Home With Daddy is coming April 2019.
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Vicky Smith –
“This poetic tale chronicles the presence and contributions of African American midwives. Rites of passage incandescently brought to light.”
— Vicky Smith, Kirkus Reviews
Julie Danielson –
“It’s a moving set of poems, accompanied by Daniel Minter’s dramatic portraits, dominated by rich shades of blue, of women and babies; it is art filled with symbolic patterns and images.”
—Julie Danielson, The Horn Book
 Ashley Bryan –
“The Women Who Caught the Babies is a Masterpiece of Art and Writing! It deserves RESOUNDING Praise and Awards!”
— Ashley Bryan, Artist and Author
Carolyn Phelan –
“While well-chosen archival photos accompany the book’s introduction and final poem, Minter’s full-page paintings beautifully illustrate most of the verse. Strong and graceful, the images feature deep, rich colors brightened with white netlike forms created with repeated motifs and vibrant images evocative of the natural world: the ocean, sea-foam, fishes, birds, branches, leaves, blossoms, fruits, and new life waiting to be born. A unique, moving tribute to the women who caught the babies and continue to do so today.”Â
— Carolyn Phelan, Booklist from ALA
Deborah Menkart –
“This unique picture book begins with historic background on the work of midwives, written in prose that is accessible to young readers and accompanied by archival photographs. The book then switches to poetry and stunningly beautiful illustrations—with vignettes from lives of midwives during slavery, emancipation, and today.”
— Deborah Menkart, Social Justice Books
Manhattan –
” In this short book, poet and author, Eloise Greenfield, uses prose to explore the history of African American midwives in America. Other than the introduction, all of the book is told in unrhymed lines, bits and pieces of history interwoven with more intimate narratives. The poems are accompanied by the lovely artwork of Daniel Minter, a painter and illustrator with a long history of illustrious pieces. The art is filled with blues, yellows, and reds, and creates a cohesive theme that permeates the entire book.”
—Manhattan Book Review
Julie Danielson –
“… the verses capture the powerful, loving, and unwavering work of these women, who guided humans into the world “with gentle, loving hands.” The verses are accompanied by Minter’s dramatic portraits … of women and babies … filled with symbolic patterns and images.”
— Julie Danielson, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Rethinking Schools Magazine –
“This unique picture book begins with historic background on the work of midwives, written in prose that is accessible to young readers and accompanied by archival photographs. The book then switches to poetry and stunningly beautiful illustrations — with vignettes from lives of midwives during slavery, emancipation, and today.”
— Rethinking Schools Magazine
Ryan Mita –
“This moving nonfiction illustrated book, written in verse, illuminates the work and stories of African American midwives. It’s empowering to understand their role in shaping generations, even as they were forced into slavery. A bibliography and photographs underscore Minter’s powerful artwork.”Â
— Ryan Mita, Children’s Book Council
Charnaie Gordon –
“The blend of Eloise Greenfield’s poetry and Daniel Minter’s art evokes heartfelt appreciation of the abilities of African-American midwifes over the course of time. The book closes with a poem about the midwife Miss Rovenia Mayo who caught Eloise Greenfield herself on the evening of May 17, 1929. The amazing illustrations in the book are done by illustrator Daniel Minter who was also caught by a midwife during his birth.”
— Charnaie Gordon, Here We Read
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas –
“The Educator’s Playbook, The Best Books for Young Readers of 2019. Selected in the category–Graphic Novels & Illustrated Texts.”
—Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Associate Professor Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division
Charnaie Gordon –
“Selected as one of the best 45 diverse Children’s Books of 2019 to read over and over again. It’s wonderful books like this exist to teach readers about this rich tradition of African American midwives. It has been carried across the Atlantic, kept alive and passed down from healer to healer, continuing through slavery and spread throughout the African diaspora.”
—Charnaie Gordon, Here We Read
Bob Keyes –
“For the book about midwifery, Greenfield wrote a series of connected poems about midwives through time, in Africa, after arriving in North America and after emancipation. Minter illustrates the poems with stylistic portrayals of women in attendant repose – dutiful and calm, strong and wise.Â
— Bob Keyes, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald