CAM’s longstanding commitment to equity in midwifery is rooted in our awareness of the racism that fueled the campaign to eliminate the profession of midwifery in the United States. Throughout the early 20th century, while nations in Europe and Asia focused on modernizing midwifery education and integrating midwives into emerging healthcare systems, policy makers in the US focused instead on replacing midwives—a racially and ethnically diverse workforce of primary maternity care providers—with white physicians and nurses.

By the 1950s the campaign to eliminate midwifery in the US had largely succeeded, as regulations governing midwives at the local and state level were repealed and replaced with medical practice acts that criminalized midwifery and reconfigured it as a branch of nursing under the supervision of physicians. While the loss of midwifery care affected communities across the US, its impact was most acute among Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other people of color, whose midwives had been serving and sustaining their communities for generations.

Today in California we still see the impact that the campaign to eliminate the midwifery profession has had, in particular on the availability of Black midwives as vital primary maternity care providers in their communities. Because the state of California has neglected to collect demographic and other critical data about licensed midwives, we can only extrapolate the numbers from various sources. Of the approximately 774 licenses issued in California, we estimate that fewer than twenty of them went to Black midwives.

Culturally congruent midwifery care in community birth settings is a critical tool in ending racial disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes. Growing California's Black midwifery work force will not only improve outcomes but also raise community awareness about midwifery care and its impact on positive outcomes for all birthing people.

The Bridget "Biddy" Mason Black Midwifery Student Scholarship and Financial Aid Fund will advance community midwifery in California through a multifaceted funding program developed by CAM's inaugural Black Midwives Advisory Group. The structure is designed to reduce barriers to midwifery practice at each stage from education and training to practice.

The Fund provides money for tuition, fees, and living expenses for student midwives nearing completion of their midwifery training, as well as grants to new graduates and newly licensed midwives starting midwifery practice in California. Recipients must demonstrate a commitment to honor and nurture Black Midwifery traditions as embodied in the legacy of Bridget "Biddy" Mason's service to her community.

All money raised will go directly to applicants. The applications will be reviewed by an advisory group comprised of California Black licensed midwives. Once reviewed the advisory group will determine how the funds are distributed and to which applicants.