“They caught the babies, / and catch them still, / welcome them into the world, / for loving.” (“The Women”) Following an introduction about the role of midwives throughout history, this work pays tribute to the role that African American midwives have played and continued to play in African American experience. Poems titled “Africa to America” (pre-slavery and slavery), “After Emancipation, 1863,” “The Early 1900s,” and “The Early 2000s” chronicle the changing context and changing lives of midwives and their patients (e.g., born into freedom, the midwife being summoned by a husband in horse and buggy, the midwife’s arrival in her own car), with the pain and love that are part of birth a constant. In a final poem, “Miss Rovenia Mayo,” author Greenfield pays tribute to the midwife who caught her when she was born on May 17, 1929. Black-and-white photographs, both archival and from the author’s personal collection, appear in the volume’s introduction and the final poem, while arresting paintings full of pattern and color, heart and hope, illustrate the remainder of this singular volume. (Age 12 and older)