Do you know the Mothers of Gynecology? This Black maternal health conference is keeping their names alive
TheGrio...
Betsy, Lucy, and Anarcha, the Mothers of Gynecology, were three enslaved girls who sacrificed for the advancement of maternal health.
Nearly two centuries ago in Alabama, three enslaved girls, Betsy, Lucy, and Anarcha, were tortured in the name of advancing women’s health. Last week, dozens gathered on those same grounds to reclaim their legacy as the true Mothers of Gynecology and demand better care for Black women.
From Feb. 26 through March 1, physicians, doulas, midwives, historians, celebs, and reproductive justice advocates convened in Montgomery, Alabama, at the More Up Campus, for the fifth Day of Reckoning conference, part of the growing movement tied to the “Mothers of Gynecology” monument created by artist and activist Michelle Browder.
The multi-day gathering brought out many leading voices across medicine and wellness, including OB-GYN Dr. Camille Clare, wellness icon Queen Afua, scholar and activist Toni Bond, and actress and maternal health advocate Tatyana Ali, to confront the field’s painful origins and push for solutions to the ongoing Black maternal health crisis.
Browder said the gathering itself grew out of the monument she created to honor the three enslaved girls whose bodies were used in gynecological experiments during slavery. What began as an effort to spark conversation through art, she explained, soon grew into a much broader movement around Black maternal health and reproductive justice.
“I created a monument to basically open up the conversation about maternal health,” Browder told theGrio during a sit-down alongside Clare and Queen Afua ahead of the conference. “I really didn’t believe that it was going to take us this far and start a movement … Right now, if you can use art to change narratives and engage people, that’s what we’ve done.”
After unveiling the Mothers of Gynecology monument in Montgomery in September 2021, Browder said the idea for a larger convening quickly followed when medical professionals attending the dedication called for deeper dialogue about the history of gynecology and its ongoing impact on Black maternal health. With an early initial “Day of Reckoning” honoring the three girls already in the works, she saw the perfect opportunity to invite the medical field directly into the conversation and further help bridge the gap that began centuries ago while uplifting the Mothers.
What happened to the girls is one of the most disturbing chapters in American medical history. In the 1840s, a physician attempting to develop treatments for childbirth injuries repeatedly operated on enslaved girls in Alabama, all without anesthesia, based on the racist and false belief that Black people can tolerate pain at higher levels. Anarcha, about 17 years old, endured at least 30 surgeries before the final was a success. Lucy, around 18, nearly died from infection after one operation. Betsy, believed to be about 16, was also subjected to repeated procedures. Because they were enslaved, they had no autonomy over their bodies and no ability to refuse.
After Anarcha’s final and successful procedure, the girls were eventually returned to labor. They also did not receive any credit for their sacrifices for nearly over a century, while the lead physician involved, J. Marion Sims, went on to be known as the “Father of Modern Gynecology.”
“We amplify the mothers that we learned from,” Clare said. “We learned many techniques at the sacrifice of their body.”
Today, that history still reverberates across maternal healthcare. In the United States, Black women are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The maternal mortality rate for Black women is about 44.8 deaths per 100,000 births compared to 14.2 for white women, disparities researchers link to systemic bias, unequal access to care, and a long history of mistrust between Black patients and the medical system.
For Clare, addressing that mistrust requires both honesty about the past and structural change within medicine itself. She emphasized that obstetricians and gynecologists are increasingly grappling with the field’s history as they work to improve care moving forward.
“Many are already doing the great work,” she said, noting that conferences like Day of Reckoning also serve to elevate providers who are pushing for more equitable care. “And we’re holding ourselves accountable when we need to learn better.”
Clare attended the conference in part as a representative of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which this year marks the 75th anniversary of its founding. For the organization, she said, being present at an event that centers the legacy of Betsy, Lucy, and Anarcha carries particular weight.
“As a practicing Black woman obstetrician and gynecologist, it means even more,” she told theGrio, adding that conversations about maternal health must move beyond individual doctors and instead examine the broader systems shaping care.
“Sometimes conversations point to individual actions or inactions or limitations,” she explained. “But what are we thinking about in terms of the system?”
According to Clare, ACOG has increasingly focused on confronting medical mistrust while advancing policies centered on respect and equity in patient care.
“I just wanted to amplify the cultural humility that we’re coming into this conversation with,” she said. “We’re recognizing the medical mistrust that has occurred, but we are moving forward to be solutions-oriented.”
That work is also informed by the reproductive justice framework first articulated by Black women activists in the 1990s. The concept centers on bodily autonomy and the right for individuals to have or not have children and raise families in safe and supportive environments.
“When we think about the reproductive justice framework, it allows for bodily autonomy—the right to have children or not have children and to parent in ways that are safe and equitable for our communities,” Clare explained. “We believe reproductive justice is obstetrical and gynecological care. That’s a part of it.”
Across four days, the conference featured panels on reproductive justice, maternal mortality, and culturally responsive care. Queen Afua, who spoke about the types of holistic care Black birthing people could do before, during, and after, also teased some of what her discussion would involve, including a special care package for parents. Physicians shared space with midwives and doulas to discuss how different models of maternal support, from hospital care to community birth work, can work together to improve outcomes.
Ali, a mother of two who has increasingly used her platform to advocate for maternal health equity and has spoken publicly about racial disparities in pregnancy care, attended the conference and spoke about maternal and reproductive health. She also brought her baby quilt brand Baby Yams.
“I do not typically share my story with everyone because often people will not take great care with it or may even use it,” the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” alum told theGrio over email after the conference. “But it is an honor to be here to share and to heal.”
Queen Afua, who has spent more than five decades advocating for holistic health practices, described the gathering as part of a larger collective responsibility to transform maternal care for Black women.
“This is going to take every one of us,” she said. “When we come together—with our wisdom, our medicine, our spirituality and our science—that’s how we begin to create safe and sacred birthing experiences for our mothers.”