Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section24/Mary Willingham

Overview
Mary Willingham was an African-American practical nurse in Clarke County, Georgia. She was interviewed for the Federal Writers Project in 1939.

Biography
It is not known exactly when Mary Willingham was born or how old she is because her mother passed away when she was young and there are no records of her birth. Willingham was born on a farm in Clarke County, Georgia and worked in the field when she was younger. She attended school at Morton’s Chapel until second grade, after which she dropped out; she never finished primary or secondary school and was not literate. Her sister raised her for a time, after which she lived with a white family that took her in. She worked for that family until she got married. Willingham was a baptist and joined a church when she was a child. She first met her husband when he was still married to his first wife. They met again four years later, at which point her husband and his ex-wife had separated. They saw each other for a year before they got married. Willingham started working as a nurse when her husband's sister, a practical nurse, fell sick and gave her the job. It took her two years to get a certificate to be a practical nurse. Willingham treated a number of patients with different conditions over the course of her career as a nurse. One of the problems Willingham faced was that the low weekly wage she received for her work as a practical nurse was barely sufficient to sustain her family. She had wanted to obtain a certificate to practice midwifery so she could earn a higher wage, but had trouble doing so. She had four children, two sons and two daughters. Two of her children moved to Atlanta after they got married and two continued to live with her.

Midwifery Regulations
During the early 1700s, there were few regulations that governed the profession of midwifery. As a result, African-American midwives served as the primary caregiver for pregnant women. However, in the 1700s, the United States saw the rise of obstetrics and by the 1800s, male physicians performed most of the duties a midwife would normally carry out. The rise of obstetrics coincided with laws implemented by many states that prohibited the practice of midwifery. This made it harder for women, especially African-American women to become practicing midwives. In this way, black midwives were methodically replaced by the 1940s. However, according to data from the early 20th century, the outcomes of patients managed by midwives were on par with the outcomes of patients managed by physicians, and maternal mortality rates were higher for patients managed solely by a physician. Therefore, the elimination of black midwives have adverse effects on the health of women in black communities.

Racial Inequality
In the 1930s and 1940s, racial disrimination and racial inequality were rampant, which led to African-American workers earning far less than their white counterparts. In 1940, black workers earned just over 48 cents to each dollar earned by a white worker, almost half. Despite the efforts to make the New Deal more racially inclusive, discrimination in housing and employment projects were prominent. Political motivations prevented President Roosevelt from backing any ideas put forward by the NAACP. Despite efforts towards a more racially inclusive society, there was still large-scale discrimination that had detrimental effects on the economic mobility of African-Americans.

Racial Healthcare Disparities
One of the effects of segregation and racial inequality was a healthcare system where black Americans received lower quality healthcare than white Americans. Black Americans had a lower life expectancy, lower immunization rates and a higher infant mortality rate; by every conceivable measure, black Americans had worse health outcomes than white Americans. One of the reasons for this was that only a handful of medical schools in the South admitted black students, resulting in a shortage of black doctors. This shortage resulted in lower quality healthcare in black communities. In addition to a shortage of doctors in black communities, racism in healthcare contributed to an unequal healthcare outcomes. Medical schools continued to perpetuate myths about racial inferiority well into the 20th century. An unfortunate byproduct of this ideology was the exploitation of Black Americans through their participation in unethical experiments and use as subjects for teaching and training. This exploitation continued until the civil rights movement in the 1960s.