Community

Midwife Samsarah Morgan Helps Black Women Have Better Births

Published

7 years ago

February 1, 2017

Giving birth takes courage, says Samsarah Morgan, a midwife for 37 years and the founder of the Oakland Better Birth Foundation. “But in this country women are terrified of the birth process. They are frightened to death of what their bodies were made to do.”

Coupled with racism, the impact of this fear is measurable among Black women, where low birth weight and high infant mortality persist despite advances in mainstream medicine.

And Black women in the U.S. are five times more likely than white women to die in childbirth, says Morgan, a mother of five and grandmother of three.

“Doctors talk among themselves about black women as being high-risk,” she says. That high-risk label, even when it is deserved, often puts Black women on the fast track for a highly medicated birth with lasting impact on mother and child.

The pain-relieving epidural drugs impact the child as well as the mother because opiate pain-relievers suppress respiration. “The last thing this (newborn) baby needs to do is learn to breathe,” Morgan says, and that added stress impacts the child’s ability to thrive.

Morgan identifies one post-partum issue for C-Section mothers especially, is being robbed of the victory of giving birth. “They feel that they have failed,” Morgan says and the same can be said of women who don’t, for a variety of reasons, breast-feed their babies.

Samsarah Morgan with students and Better Birth Foundation board members at the Breastfeeding Festival in 2016.

But a little education can go a long way, Morgan says. And the education provided from a midwife, or Doula, provides alternatives. Beginning Feb. 14, she is holding a seven-week series of classes not just for mothers but their partners, grandmothers, fathers, aunts and others because she needs family support in making these decisions.

“They will learn about pregnancy, nutrition, the baby’s development, and what the moms need in each stage of development physically, psychologically and emotionally.”

Morgan’s post-partum work focuses on breastfeeding. It helps the mother’s womb contract to its natural size and reduces the likelihood of breast cancer later in life. For the baby, breast milk is the perfect food resulting in stronger immune systems, even higher IQs.

And the bonding between mother and child is also important.

Despite everyone’s best efforts, tragedy may strike and a child dies. Morgan teaches about that, too. “Women don’t know that they should grieve,” Morgan says, “and friends and family need to know that the woman may always grieve that loss.”

Morgan also makes it clear that she is not “anti-doctor or anti-hospital,” but even mainstream physicians acknowledge that doulas’ work has resulted in fewer C-sections and drug-related interventions.

Now certified by the International Center for Traditional Childbearing, Morgan got her start in the late 1970s informally advising the female partners of male colleagues in the corporation where she worked.

Now holding a Doctorate of Divinity from the now-defunct American Institute of Interfaith Studies as well as licenses in life coaching and hypnotherapy, Morgan brings all of these to bear in her work, which she regards as a ministry.

Familiar with birth stories from around the world, Morgan mentions one where it is during labor that the mother “goes to the island of souls to get her baby.” Natural labor gives her a sense of her abilities to take care of this new soul, Morgan says.

Oakland Better Birth Foundation is located at 370 45^th St. in Oakland. Fees for the seven week series range from $100-$200, but no family will be turned away. For more information, please call (510) 595-5534.

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Activism

WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

21 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.

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Bay Area

Vivian Coit, 98

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

Published

21 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Vivian Coit

Celebrating A Life Well Lived

Sept. 15, 1925 ~ March 30, 2024

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

In her 98 years, she had various jobs – San Francisco Naval Shipyard, elevator operator, housekeeping, a salesclerk, and supervisor for the United States Postal Service. After 27 years of service with the United States Postal Service, she retired with numerous commendations. She was a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women. and a devoted member of the Washington/Lincoln Alumni Association of Dallas, Texas.

On April 20 at 10:00 a.m., a life well-lived will be celebrated at Beebe Memorial Cathedral CME Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA under the leadership of Rev. Antoine Shyne.

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Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

21 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!