02/13/2026
Celebrating our amazing black midwives present and in history!!
Throughout February, the Midwives of Color Council of the American College of Nurse-Midwives is honoring Black Midwives who have made a lasting impact on our profession.
Today, we recognize a leader who gave her heart and soul to the American College of Nurse-Midwives—as a former ACNM Vice President, Chair of the Division of Accreditation, a leader within the Research and Publications Divisions, and the pioneering “Mother” of the Midwives of Color Committee.
Dr. Betty Carrington, CNM, EdD, FACNM, is a true pioneer in midwifery. Early in her career, she spent her first year unable to deliver babies because physicians did not want her “touching their white patients.” Undeterred, Dr. Carrington used that year to read the entire midwifery curriculum—knowing she would one day be called. And she was.
Her work laid the foundation for representation, equity, and leadership in midwifery, spanning clinical practice, academic leadership, governance, and mentorship—helping shape who becomes a midwife and how care is delivered in the United States.
As a clinical leader, Dr. Carrington served as Director of the Nurse-Midwifery Service at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, NY (1972–1979) and as Nurse-Midwife Research Associate at Harlem Hospital through Columbia University. In these roles, she served underserved communities and demonstrated the value of culturally grounded, relational, and community-centered care decades before maternal health equity became a policy priority.
As an academic leader, she served as an Associate Professor at SUNY Health Science Center (1979–1996) and was among the few Black Nurse-Midwifery Program Directors, leading the Graduate Nurse-Midwifery Program at Columbia University (1986–1991). She integrated cultural context, nutrition, and community realities into midwifery education, shaping generations of midwives to deliver holistic, culturally informed care.
Dr. Carrington rose to numerous national leadership roles, including becoming ACNM’s first Black Vice President in the early 1970s. She later served as Chair of the ACNM Division of Accreditation (1999–2004), helping define national education standards for nurse-midwifery, and also served in ACNM’s Research and Publications Divisions.
In 2001, Dr. Carrington received ACNM’s highest honor, the Hattie Hemschmeyer Award, becoming only the second African American midwife to receive this distinction.
She is truly the mother of the Midwives of Color Council. Long before the Midwives of Color Committee was formally established in 1991, Dr. Carrington spent decades convening midwives and student midwives of color in her hotel room at ACNM annual meetings—creating space for support, mentorship, encouragement, and leadership.
Her legacy lives on through the Midwives of Color Council and the Carrington–Hsia–Nieves Doctoral Scholarship for Midwives of Color, which she co-founded with Lily Hsia and Nieves Fitch. Thank you, Dr. Betty Carrington.
