Gloria Robbins

MATTIE STEVENS: You did say your name, Ms. Robins.

ROBBINS: Glorya Robins.

MS: Glorya Robins.

GR: Like the bird with an S on it.

MS: Okay. I’m Mattie Stevens and I’m the interviewer today for the midwives’ forum. And we’re going to start by­ getting you to just give us your name and where you’re from and whatever. And then tell us what you know about midwifery and the fact that you were delivered and all that good stuff. But I first 00:01:00want to ask you if it’s okay now. We signed the form, so it’s okay that we use your information.

GR: Yes.

MS: Okay. All right, you may start.

GR: Okay, my name is Glorya Robins, and I’m originally from Columbia, Mississippi, County of Marion. And I’m into the information about midwifery because I was delivered by a midwife, by my grandmother. I was delivered in 1951. And the information that I have about midwifery is from listening as a child as my grandmother would talk to my mom and other ladies in the community. My mom was also a midwife, but she was one of those—well, most of the midwives weren’t drivers. They didn’t drive. And when I watch 00:02:00TV and see the Westerns, where they would send for the midwife on a wagon, and it was usually by the father of the child, it made me remember that this is what happened that I can remember, that they would send for the midwife by car, truck, or whatever, and most of the time it’s at night. And so my dad would not too much allow my mom to be out that time of night, ’cause midwifery is different. Those women were kinda high-ranked. They was ranked up there with pastors and teachers and nurses and things like that. So most of the time they didn’t have husband, and the ones that did have husbands, they didn’t do too well. [Laughter.] And that’s why the midwife that I know of, my grandmother, was number four grandma for me. She was my step-grandma. My grandfather was married to 00:03:00five ladies, and she was number four. And they didn’t get along because she was out all the time. But I can remember years in the ’40s when there were classes held at Marion County Hospital for Negro women and poor white women to teach them how to deliver their baby successfully in their own communities, because that was all they had. So I remember classes that was taken. Well, I have a picture of a class that my mom took, and other Black women, and this—

MS: Could we have it?

GR: Well, I don’t have the picture with me.

MS: Okay, you could give us a copy.

GR: Okay.

MS: Send it by mail if you want to.

GR: Okay. But this picture shows women that come from the area of like Tylertown and Blue Springs and Hub and Bassfield and places like that, where they would teach them how to deliver their babies. 00:04:00But the midwifery was a unique experience for the women then. My grandma would tell my mom and other women the situation that they would be in. Sometimes they would be really really bad situation that they would be in. And like I said, they mostly would be at night. And it was to the point that she would start carrying a gun, because you come in all situations. You’re in a poor situation. Some of the men didn’t have a lot of respect for the wives that were delivering or the females that were delivering babies. And so they would have to be in a position to protect themselves. So also the midwives also would tell—my grandma would tell my mom and 00:05:00other ladies about the deliveries of the what they called malformed, illy-formed, babies that were born back then. And she would tell us of how that they would mostly time not live too far past a couple of breaths after deliveries. And they would be born with all kinds of situations: several limbs, too many limbs, or this type situation that we’ve had in this day and time has grown up and matured to be older people. At that time, with not the medication and the education and the medical situations that they could live very long. But also the midwives back then were not—most of them could not read. And that’s how I come to be called G-L-O-R-Y. Because they knew the song “Glory Hallelujah.” So 00:06:00they looked up, my grandma looked up in the hymnbook and saw glory, ’cause she knew my mom wanted me—what my name was supposed to be. And so she just spelt there with Y. And so years later ,doing a national board, because I’m an educator, retired educator, I added the A on myself so that it would be Glorya. G-L-O-R-Y-A. But they could not read. I had my aunt was delivered by a midwife, and this same grandma who delivered her, she could not spell her name. Her name was Brenetta [sp?]. She could not spell Brenetta, so she was called Baby Girl Jackson. That was our maiden name, Jackson. So on her birth certificate, and years later when the children were trying to get information about their mom, they found her under Baby Girl Jackson. And what made them 00:07:00be able to find her because of the year that she was born, so they could find that, and they knew that, and that that’s what it ended up being. But I listened to different midwives. They’d talk. And I can remember my mom years later, a few years later, we would gather peas or corn or whatever to help the poor families pay the midwife, ’cause that’s what they were paid with, with food and potatoes and canned goods and fruits and vegetables. And we would help the poor families pay the midwife. They would even pay with quilts. And that’s how my grandma and my granddad separated, because of a quilt that somebody had given her, and they got in a argument over it, and they divorced over a quilt. So that’s how they were paid. And like I said, they were respected highly. 00:08:00And I think my grandfather probably felt intimidated by her, even though she couldn’t read. She was held in high standard in the community because of what she was doing. And she would go to white people. She would deliver white babies, as well. It wasn’t just for Black babies, but—

MS: It really was a status job.

GR: No, it was, and so they was highly uplifted in the community. So, like I said, most of the midwife back in that time—this was in the late ’40s, early ’50s—they didn’t really have husbands. They might have had children, but most of the families, the marriages didn’t do very well. So I was able to look at midwifery as a child that’s listening in at the door, and listens to conversations about how things were, but I have no official training, just from listening.

MS: Okay. Did your grandmother have any mothers 00:09:00to pass, to die?

GR: Yes, she did have some, and you know, another thing: the midwives, they pretty much—when they knew of a lady in the community or surrounding area that was pregnant, they could pinpoint when that baby was going to be delivered, and not because of examination or watching the body of things and these holding the thimble in front of the baby stomach. It was because of the weather, and the almanac. They would follow the almanac and the weather, and they was able to dictate if the weather was a certain way, oh, she would deliver tonight. Let me get my stuff ready ’cause I’mma have to go out tonight in this weather. ’Cause they could feel that. They studied the stars, as you would say, and they would figure out when a baby was to be born. And they would be there. So they had to be ready in all type of situations. So 00:10:00they were—

MS: That is awesome.

GR: Right, right. And let’s see, what else did I have? They would accept whatever it was to be given, ’cause they knew that they were just like them, even though the families held them higher than themselves, but they were just like them. So they just received whatever was paid.

MS: Sounds like a higher calling.

GR: Exactly, exactly, exactly. So they received whatever it was they had to give.

MS: Now do you have any problem with us getting a copy of your birth certificate?

GR: No, no.

MS: For the museum? Okay. Now if there’s anything on there you don’t want known, just black it out. Redact.

GR: Right. This birth certificate is my aunt’s, so that did have the Baby Girl Jackson on it, but mine has been corrected now. It doesn’t have the Y there anymore.

MS: So could we have a copy of both 00:11:00of them?

GR: Well, I don’t have the original, ’cause they changed it all.

MS: Yeah, just a copy would be fine.

GR: That’d be fine. Yes, I can provide that, but—

MS: Okay. But if there’s anything on there that you don’t want anybody to know, just redact.

GR: That’s fine, that’s fine.

MS: That’s what I’m doin’ with mine. [Laughs.]

GR: Okay, okay, okay, that’s fine, that’s fine.

MS: Yeah. Well, I really appreciate your comin’ and sharing, ’cause all that you’re saying is the research that I’ve gotten to know.

GR: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it kinda goes on from person to person, because that’s what it was.

MS: That’s the way history was carried.

GR: I’m an— Right. I’m an unknown author, and a author—this book, I remember, what I remember. That’s one of the things that—

MS: You remembered.

GR: That I remembered.

MS: How ’bout that?

GR: Right. And there was a couple stories in here that mentions midwifery, and one of ’em is a story called “Glory,” which is my name, G-L-O-R-Y, and how I got it because the midwife couldn’t read. And another one is because of my grandpa, the divorce 00:12:00between him and my grandma Cora [sp?], because of this quilt that he wouldn’t give up. [Laughter.] So when I heard the information about midwifery I said, “Well, I got two stories about midwife and activities that happened because of it.”

MS: What about that quilt? Where is it?

GR: I don’t know. That’s been so, so many years ago.

MS: One of ’em probably burned it.

GR: But to the point, they pretty much ended up fighting in church over the quilt, because he was one of these prayers that pray these long prayers, and he was prayin’, and back then they wouldn’t call cover “cover.” They called it “kiver.”

MS: “Kiver.”

GR: So he was prayin’, and he was thankin’ the Lord for this, and thankin’ the Lord for this, and I thank you for this, and thank you for that, and I thank you for the kiver that you give me the kiver with, ’cause you know it wasn’t none of mine. And my grandmother said, “Whose was it?” And they got into it while he’s prayin’, so they had to pull the pastor from the back, [laughter] and he called the grandpa out and talked to him and said, “You know that’s Cora’s quilt. Why don’t you give her her quilt? She either made that quilt or somebody gave 00:13:00it to her.” So he eventually had to give the quilt back to her. But this has been so many years ago.

MS: That’s awesome.

GR: Who knows where that quilt is? But they would do all kinds of things like that, but that quilt caused the divorce ’cause she had received it as doing midwife work.

MS: That is beautiful. [Laughter.]

GR: But stories like that is in my book.

MS: That’s great, that’s great. I also remember, see, my middle name is Marie [sp?], and they couldn’t read, my mother and the midwife couldn’t spell, so it’s Muree [inaudible], M-U-R-E-E.

GR: Is that right? Oh, no. They spelt it like they heard it.

MS: Heard it, yeah, yeah.

GR: Yeah, ’cause that’s what most of them did, ’cause they remember saying glory. And for years as a child I was called Glory Glory Hallelujah.

MS: Exactly.

GR: Because that’s what I—G-L-O-R-Y. [Laughter.] But they did the best they could, and 00:14:00if it was not for them we probably would have no names, ’cause years ago a lot of times it would be several days before babies would be named, because they would watch the character of the baby and name the baby from their character and how they exhibit different things.

MS: So that’s what that was.

GR: Yeah. And that’s why we have so many Booboos and TTs and all that kinda thing, [laughs] in this day and time, because they named it according to how the baby acted or responded or whatever.

MS: I didn’t understand why that was.

GR: And then a lot of it was because they couldn’t spell names, so you get all these TJs and LDs and WBs and all of that. They couldn’t spell names. And I got a brother that was named JC. And he wanted to join the military, and they told him to come back when you get a name for those letters. [Laughter.] So he named himself Jacky Curry [sp?], or Jacky Carvin [sp?], so had to come back and do that.

MS: History is something, 00:15:00isn’t it?

GR: It is. It is.

MS: I thank you so much.

GR: Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity to share what I remember.

MS: Yeah, it’s been a good night.

GR: All right, thank you.

MS: All right. If you know anybody else, send ’em my way. Let me give you—probably on the back of your release form, let me put my name and a couple telephone numbers.

GR: Okay, sounds great.

MS: Do you use the Internet?

GR: Ma’am?

MS: Do you use the Internet?

GR: Yes, I have—

MS: Email.

GR: I have it and I have—

MS: I got a pen.

GR: Okay, I have a card with some of the excerpts from my story with my number and my Internet on here.

MS: Okay. Oh, that’s great. All right, we can use this [inaudible] okay. [inaudible] to send me to this—I’ll give you the address. You just send me those certificates and anything else you can find. 00:16:00 Pictures.

GR: All right, all right, sounds great. I think he’s gone. I think Dr. Luckett is gone.

MS: Yeah, he’s supposed to be gone. I’m takin’ everybody out. I’ll take you.

F: Oh, okay, so are you ready for that?

MS: Yes, just come right on, and I’ll be ready in just a second.

F: Yes, ma’am.

MS: M. T. Stevens.

GR: And you live here in Jackson?

MS: Mm-hmm [affirmative], mm-hmm.

GR: And affiliated with Jackson State?

MS: Well, I’m an alumnus of Jackson State.

GR: Okay, I am, too.

MS: Oh, great. Four [ph] three oh seven New Post Road.

GR: So when I get my artifacts and stuff together I need to contact you to let you know what I have and let you see what I have.

MS: Good.

GR: Okay.

MS: Six-oh-one. This will go straight to voicemail but leave me a message.

GR: I will.

MS: Okay?

GR: All right, 00:17:00thank you so much.

MS: Thank you so much.

GR: All right.

MS: 00:18:00All right. Okay, come right on.