Louise Smith Myles

DR. ROBERT LUCKETT: This is Robby Luckett. It is Saturday, September 17, 2016. We are at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center in Jackson, Mississippi. Do I have your permission to record this interview?

LOUISE SMITH MILES: Yes, you can.

RL: Can you tell me your name and spell it, please?

LSM: I’m Louise Smith Myles, L-O-U-I-S-E S-M-I-T-H M-Y-L-E-S.

RL: And tell me a little bit about yourself: where you’re from, when you were born, what your parents did.

LSM: Well, I’m from Madison, Mississippi. And my mother and father was a pig farmer. Mother had 14 children, nine girls and five boys, and as background [ph], by farming, 00:01:00we grew up in the field, farming [inaudible] peanuts and [inaudible] and corn and all of that, everything. So when we were growing up, I just knew [inaudible] midwives, Kate Powell [sp?], and all the other midwives. Ms. Bertha Parker [sp?] was a midwife. So I never had in my mind that when I grew up that she’d be the one that waited on my kids, some my kids. And what happened, in the years to come, when I got married, you know, I got in labor, then [inaudible] pain, and then you go down, and she took me in, [inaudible] me up and everything.

But before I went to her, I knew I was pregnant, but I didn’t know I had twins. And then the doctor had told me I could have a 10- or 12-pound baby, ’cause he didn’t ever hear but one heart. But when I met Ms. Bertha, when she started rubbin’ me up when I was in pain and things [ph], she said, “Well, lay on the bed here.” And she said, “You 00:02:00know you reachin’ [ph] twins? You’re havin’ twins?” And I just sort of blacked out then, because I never had in mind I could have twins. My sister and brother used to joke with me about how I was gonna have twins, but I never thought that I was with twins, because the doctor never hear but one heartbeat when I was with him, and then when I was in labor—you know, when you’re in labor, be hurtin’, and she be sayin’ stuff to you, you feel like you in the bathroom [ph] or something, you know—you don’t know about women having babies, pushin’, all that? When I started the pushing, well, the little boy came out, this little boy and a girl, and then when I raised up to see him, he was—she did [ph]—he was cryin’, then [inaudible] I just went back, because she did tell me the truth: I was with twins. And that’s when I found out [inaudible] and nobody in my family had no twins but me.

So the next year I was with another baby, and it was [inaudible]. And then I went 00:03:00down, [inaudible] laid [ph] with her, even though you achin’ and painin’, hurtin’, you know. You can’t remember everything, ’cause you hurtin’. And they tell you push, push, [inaudible], you know, my kids [inaudible]. I just had my kids on my own.

RL: So of your 14 brothers and sisters, none of them were twins?

LSM: No. And I’m the 12th child.

RL: Twelfth. What year were you born?

LSM: 1940.

RL: And were they all delivered by midwives?

LSM: Midwives, and the lady, her name was Kate Powell. She lived down the street from me [inaudible]. My mother had all 14 of us in that old house, and she—when we lived [inaudible].

RL: And that’s in Madison.

LSM: In Madison, [inaudible].

RL: Wow. And so the midwife lived near you?

LSM: Yeah, right down the street from her. They had a farm doin’ [ph] our crop. There’s 00:04:00a fence between our crop and their crop [inaudible] separated from one another [ph] with fences, and [inaudible] over there on that side. We would talk with one another [inaudible], the land [ph]. [inaudible].

RL: Do you remember the woman—what was her name who was the midwife that delivered you and your brothers and sisters?

LSM: Her name was Kate Powell.

RL: Kate Powell.

LSM: Yeah.

RL: What do you remember about her?

LSM: Well, I just knew [inaudible]—really, I really—she was old when my mother had me. I’m the 12th child, so you know [inaudible] got old, she wasn’t deliverin’ kids then, because she had got old. But I can remember my mother told us she delivered all of us. See, I’m four years old than my baby sister.

RL: Do you remember her being born?

LSM: No. No, I didn’t know my mother was pregnant, because I was little. No, I sure don’t.

RL: When was your first child born? 00:05:00LSM: 1960, July the 26th.

RL: 1960.

LSM: Yep.

RL: And tell me again the name of the midwife that helped you with your children?

LSM: Bertha Parker.

RL: Bertha Parker.

LSM: Bertha Parker.

RL: And you were talkin’ about her house. Did she come to your house, or did you go— LSM: No, well, see, what it was, when we was growin’ up, she was goin’ to people houses, havin’ a baby, but when I got married, but, see, she had then really got on her feet [ph]. She had a room when you get pregnant still she come to your house. We had to go to her house, and that’s where we were [ph]. It was like a little clinic. You know, she had her own room so you could stay there, you know, and a bed, so you could spend the night. When you have the baby, be there a night or two, then go home.

RL: Did she have tools or things she kept in her house, or that she used for midwifing?

LSM: Well, she had that, but I didn’t pay all that no attention because, you know, I’m layin’ up in the bed, and she 00:06:00had her stuff all over there, and then I was just—when the pain hits you, you know you [inaudible]. You don’t know how it feels when you’re havin’ a baby, you know. So I just—I knew that she was a midwife, and I know I trusted her, because then everybody knew about her. Everybody in the community knew when we was growin’ up.

RL: She was well respected.

LSM: Yeah, she was.

RL: Was she involved in the community in other ways?

LSM: All I knew was she went to church and all that, but she wasn’t in our community. She was down—she was in Tougaloo and I was in Madison. Madison and Tougaloo joined [ph] together and everything, but, you know, you didn’t know people from down there. [inaudible], and then we talk about, you know, the kids [ph], we talk about people [ph] and all that. That’s how we learned, because [inaudible] some children in her neighborhood, the kids in her neighborhood, and that’s where we [inaudible]. We would talk about 00:07:00people havin’ [ph] babies and all that, [inaudible], all that stuff [ph]. I wanted two boys, two girls, and I had seven of ’em.

RL: Wow. And you’d mentioned the pain. Did she give you anything for pain? Did she have any medication or anything?

LSM: No. No, [inaudible]. She just [inaudible]. She just said, “Louise, bear with it, bear with it, bear with it. Wait just a minute.” Then I said, “[inaudible].” She said, “Well, just—that’s pushin’, a little pushin’,” because she had to prop you up with the bed and all that, [inaudible], and she would sit [inaudible] waitin’ for me to do the heavy [ph]. When that pain hit me, I was just push, push, pushing. You know, you do what she tell you.

RL: You said she rubbed you up. Did she have— LSM: [inaudible]— RL: —any kind of oil or anything that she put on you, or—?

LSM: Well, what it is, it was—what [inaudible]? [inaudible] alcohol or somethin’. I don’t know what it was, but I know she had—she was rubbin’ me up. I remember that. And then, you know, when you’re painin’, you just can’t remember everything. When you hurtin’, and—that’s what 00:08:00happened, you know. I just remember that. I knew she told me, when she started rubbin’ me, she said, “Ms. Smith, you gon have twins.” And I just could’ve blacked out then, because that doctor never hear but one heartbeat when I went to the clinic, and every time I go. I say people joke with me that I’m gonna have twins, and [inaudible], “Doctor, am I gonna have twins?” He said, “No, you gonna have a 10- to 12-pound baby.” Well, then there were two, and they both weighed six and a half, so that was 12 pounds in my stomach. Sure would [ph], and I didn’t ever believe it, ’cause the doctor didn’t ever say it, but people would joke with me, ’cause [inaudible] I really had three kids before that. You know, and I was so big with this one. That’s why they was jokin’ me about I was gonna have twins, but the doctor didn’t ever hear but one heartbeat.

RL: Did she deliver all your children?

LSM: No, she didn’t deliver ’em. Mm-mm [negative].

RL: Was there another midwife, or did you go to the clinic or to the— LSM: Well, you see, when I first got married, we lived in Florida, and [inaudible] Ms. 00:09:00Mary Lee [sp?]. She was the woman in Florida.

RL: What was her name?

LSM: Her name, Mar Lee—her name was [ph]—Mary Lee Peterson [sp?]. [inaudible] name Mary Lee Peterson. And I knew [inaudible] labor [ph]. I stayed up there [ph] about four years. And then when I got in labor [ph] one day, my husband had to go get her. She was in the town up there. But really, after he go get her, he had to take her home and get her suitcase and all that. But my baby was here by then [ph]. I lived about 30 minutes, an hour away [ph]. When we come home, my mother-in-law and my girl [ph] next door, that’s when [inaudible] my second [inaudible] extended [ph] sent me here on credit [ph]. My mother-in-law had laid her on the bed there, and I was just waitin’ there for the midwife, I think [ph], so I had her by myself. She was big. Oh, Lord [ph], I had her by myself.

RL: Your mother-in-law, did she know anything about midwifing?

LSM: No, 00:10:00she didn’t. No, my mother-in-law ain’t no nothin’, ’cause, you know, she was just [inaudible] and everything. But, you know, she had five [ph] kids herself, so that’s what made that [ph]. She had three girls and two boys, and she had kids, so she just knew what to do. You don’t know [ph], people that stay opened up [ph] til she get in [ph]. [inaudible]. I knew he in a hurry, but he still—when he got into town and found her, and she had to cab [ph] back home to get her grip [ph] and all that, so [inaudible] been so long, and I just waited and waited. But the Lord was with me. My hand was in God hand, so that’s what happened. I had my baby by myself. [inaudible] midwife then [ph]. I sure did.

RL: Were you scared?

LSM: Well, I wasn’t scared, because my mother-in-law was with me. She just like a mother to me. I wouldn’t take nothin’ for her [ph]. But she was holdin’ my hand and everything. She said, “Louise, I don’t want you to be [ph] [inaudible] when you go to do the pushin’.” She said, “I don’t know what to do, Louise. You just go on. You’ve got to be here [ph].” She said, “I 00:11:00have to go get a bucket or something,” ’cause she said, “I don’t want you to be [inaudible] on yourself,” you know? Some people, they hemorrhage stuff [ph]. That’s the way you feel when you push. That’s what happened, so— RL: Did you have any complications with any of your children?

LSM: Not one. And I had seven.

RL: Wow.

LSM: Four girl and three boys.

RL: All delivered by a midwife, with the exception of the one that— LSM: But the two first ones we took [ph] at the hospital. They were two boys. But when I moved from where I was, moved in Florida, that’s when I had first baby by myself. Then the third one come—one, two, three, four—and then was the twins. That’s when I had to move back down there in my Daddy’s place [ph]. You know, [inaudible]. I had to move back down [inaudible] with Madison. And that’s when I had the twins, and the next year I had— RL: What 00:12:00did your husband do?

LSM: He’s a carpenter. He build houses.

RL: And how did you pay the midwives?

LSM: Twenty-five dollars. Twenty-five dollars. That’s what they were chargin’ durin’ that time when you have a baby. And she charged the same. When I had the twins, she didn’t double it. She just still $25.

RL: Wow. Did you have insurance or anything to pay that $25?

LSM: No, we didn’t have no insurance. We sure didn’t. Nope, [inaudible] insurance.

RL: What if there were people who couldn’t afford the $25?

LSM: I believe she would’ve helped them, if they just paid a little at a time, you know. I mean, she wouldn’t have turned ’em down, you knew that [ph]. You in labor—you don’t know how it is. Havin’ a baby’s not easy. When that pain hits you—I don’t think—I need heard nobody talk about it, about she, you 00:13:00know, didn’t deliver the baby ’cause you didn’t have the money, ’cause what she did, she don’t know if you got money or not. She gon wait on [ph] that baby. Then later on, if you could pay her a little at a time, about a month or about a week [ph], you know, if you hadn’t gotten it, ’cause she wouldn’t have let you down, ’cause we all knew, and her name. She’s just a Christian lady and everything. She just really helped. And [inaudible] if you didn’t have any money, she wouldn’t have let you down.

RL: Did she have anybody who helped her, any assistants, or did she just do it all by herself?

LSM: She did it all by herself. Yep, she sure did.

RL: And when you went to her house, how long would you stay?

LSM: Well, I stayed there two nights. I spent two nights there, and my husband [inaudible]. I went there on Saturday, and then that Sunday, [inaudible] Saturday night, Sunday, then comin’ home [ph] Monday. [inaudible].

RL: And was it just a room in her house? Was 00:14:00it an additional room that they built onto the house?

LSM: It really was [ph]. Her children had got grown [ph]. What they did, after she had two, she made their room to a midwife. It was already built, but after her children had got married and moved out, that was the extra room she had. There wasn’t anybody there then at that time but her and her husband. Her kids were grown and gone, and she made a room [inaudible] deliver children’s, and she wouldn’t have to be goin’ to your house.

RL: Do you know if she had any kind of professional training as midwife, or if— LSM: No, I don’t [inaudible]. She probably, you know—some people just—[inaudible] God got [ph] [inaudible] you’ll do it [ph], and then if you ain’t never did it, if you want to [ph], you could go and get some training. She’ll train you how to do it. And all I know [inaudible] the three I knew, and I ain’t asked them about the training they had. We 00:15:00just trusted [inaudible].

RL: Did she have a uniform that she wore or anything that she was recognized?

LSM: No, she didn’t have no uniform. You know, regular clothes she had.

RL: Was there anything in your experiences that really stand out? I mean, you’ve told us about a few, such as having the baby by yourself essentially— LSM: She did.

RL: —before the midwife came. Anything else that you remember about the experience of using a midwife?

LSM: No. [inaudible] if you had a baby [inaudible]. I can’t remember [ph]. [inaudible] you had that baby, you feel like a millionaire then. Your baby in [ph], you got that little baby there, ooh, you just feel good, gorgeous [ph]. That pain is gone out yo body. You know, you just got that little baby, that sweet [inaudible]. [inaudible] women havin’ babies ’cause you know you be in labor until—it don’t last long.

RL: Was 00:16:00there anybody else in the room with you for— LSM: No, there was just me [inaudible].

RL: Anything else you remember about her, or about the house?

LSM: The house, no, [inaudible], our church sometimes be invited to their church, and I’d see them [inaudible]. We’d go down to [ph] church, and be invited down the next time, and [inaudible]. We just knew people by, you know, visitin’ to different churches [inaudible].

RL: And your choice to continue using a midwife, was that just ’cause that’s what you were familiar with and what you knew? Did you ever think about going to a clinic or to a hospital?

LSM: Well, I did [inaudible] my first two kids were born in the Baptist, but I was [inaudible] staying down there [ph] while I go through the birthing [ph] during that time. I had my first two boys at the Baptist, and then I had to move to Florida, and then I had my daughter there. Then 00:17:00I moved back down there in Madison so I would be closer [ph] to my mama and daddy, then that’s when I had the twins. And after then I had another baby. And the next baby I had, I [inaudible] the hospital and got my tubes tied.

RL: No more after number seven.

LSM: No. No, that was it. I didn’t [inaudible]—I had seven, ’cause my mama had 14, and my mama didn’t have no twins, and I didn’t want no more children. I said to my husband, “I think it’s time for me to get my tubes tied.” And that’s what he did.

RL: Wow. And did you have a career, and what did you do? Were you a stay-at-home mom, or—?

LSM: Oh, I was a stay-at-home mom until all my kids went to school. When all 00:18:00my kids got in school is when I started [inaudible], and then after then I started workin’ at Mississippi School for the Blind [inaudible] Mississippi School for the Blind. And then my daddy [inaudible]. Then I [inaudible]. I just quit workin’ at Mississippi School for the Blind. Daddy stayed with me about four or five years ’fore he passed, and he’d been [ph] blind, and that why I brought him [ph] to the house, tendin’ to him, but then [inaudible] bring him down to my house, ’cause he was blind in one eye. [inaudible] later person [inaudible]. [inaudible] reason [ph] [inaudible] up to the house [ph] all the time [ph] [inaudible]. My kids [inaudible] gettin’ out of college, gettin’ married, and [inaudible]. You know, I had some room for him [ph] til he died in ’89, and he was 89 years old when he passed.

RL: Wow. Were you already working at the School for the Blind when he went blind?

LSM: Yeah, that’s where I worked, and I quit workin’ then so I could tend to him.

RL: What did you do at the Mississippi School for the Blind?

LSM: I 00:19:00was the house [inaudible]. Get the kids up, and get dressed, stay there, you know. [inaudible] bus sometimes [ph], [inaudible] van came over there. When they leave, then I [inaudible] clothes [ph], washin’ [ph] things, til I leave and come back. I was on the night shift. I would go in at 10:30. The next morning, we’d pick ’em up, and I’d go home about 8:00 or 8:30 the next day. I did that about five or six years, until my dad got sick.

RL: Are there any other stories about midwives or about yourself that you’d like to share with us? Anything else we need to know?

LSM: No, [inaudible]. [inaudible]. I tell 00:20:00you that it’s what you make out of it. If the Lord got for you [inaudible], some people [inaudible] my daughter, she [inaudible] her kids. They [inaudible]. I had [ph] [inaudible]. See, my daughter [inaudible] kids [inaudible]. Thank God I needed to move [ph]. Some people say [inaudible] some people [inaudible].

RL: Thank you very much. This was wonderful.

LSM: Thank you. Well, I didn’t know I had to do this. [Laughs.] I know she said they were gon ask me a few questions. I’m filmed on TV [ph] [inaudible]— [END OF INTERVIEW]