Bates Center Seminar Series – To Protect the Mother and the Baby: Black Infant Mortality in Historical Perspective

Speaker: Wangui Muigai, PhD, Brandeis University

Date and Time: Wednesday, March 16, 2022, 4:00pm EDT, virtual BlueJeans event

Abstract: This talk traces the origins and politics of government efforts to explain and reduce Black infant mortality in the United States. Through examining the early 20th century work of the U.S. Children’s Bureau this talk explores how government officials, medical elites, midwives, and pregnant Black women debated the best measures to ensure the livelihoods of Black mothers and their babies. The talk considers the legacies of this moment on birthing experiences today. 

Bio: Wangui Muigai, PhD, is Assistant Professor at Brandeis University in the department of History, the department of African and African American Studies, and the Program in Health: Science, Society, and Policy, where she teaches courses on the history of medicine and public health. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University and her A.B. from Harvard University. Her research has been supported by several fellowships including from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently writing a book that traces the history of black infant mortality in the United States from the era of slavery to the present day.

Register here.

Penn Nursing - Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing Office: 215-898-4502 / Fax: 215-573-2168 
418 Curie Boulevard, Floor 2U, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4217

[email protected]
www.nursing.upenn.edu/history