Onnie Lee Logan

Onnie Lee Logan was born in Marengo County, Alabama near the city of Sweet Water circa 1910. She was an extraordinary woman and midwife, who became a folk hero when her life story was published, Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife’s Story, in 1989. Growing up in rural Alabama she knew at an early age she wanted to be a midwife and how important midwives were to the community. Her mother was a midwife, as was her grandmother, who was a slave. For over 50 years she delivered hundreds of babies in south Alabama. From 1931 to 1984 Logan delivered almost every child born in Prichard, Alabama and the predominantly African American neighborhoods in Mobile, Alabama.

During the Great Depression, Logan, along with other midwives, played a major role in delivering children to mostly poor white and black mothers, providing help when doctors were either not available or unwilling to provide services to these groups of women. She delivered babies regardless of race or the parent’s ability to pay for her services. Although she delivered hundreds of babies in her lifetime, in order to support her family she had to also work as a domestic servant for a physician.

Up until 1949, the midwife profession was not regulated in Alabama and a person did not need any formal training, a license, or permit to practice. Because of Logan’s expertise in the field and with almost 20 years of experience, she received her permit to practice midwifery faster than any other applicant. In her autobiography Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife’s Story, she attributes “motherwit”, an inborn knowledge that comes from God, as the reason for her success and why earning her license was so easy, “There was a high power and God give me wisdom. Motherwit, common sense. Wisdom comes from on high. You got it and you can’t explain how you got it yourself. It’s motherwit” “I do whatever is suitable for that minute or that hour or that situation… Whether I’ve seen it in a book or read it or not, I do it. And it works. A lot a mothers says: I didn’t do that with my other baby.’ I say: “That was that baby, honey. This is this one. They are all different.””

In 1976, lay midwives were outlawed by the state of Alabama. At the time, Logan was the only midwife remaining in Mobile. However, because of her excellent track record and the stature she had achieved in Mobile, she was allowed to continue her practice under a special permit from local authorities until 1984. When Logan was finally forced to retire, she was one of the last midwives in the country. For many years after her license was revoked, she continued to provide guidance and moral support to husbands needing assistance with their wives during childbirth. Logan died on July 10, 1995.