Join Us in Honoring Maude Callen: A Gathering for the Lowcountry Birth Worker Community
Penn Center’s history is deeply connected to the training of midwives who served families across the Sea Islands for generations.
On Sunday, March 8, we continue that legacy with award winning journalist Lindsay Street for a powerful conversation about her book on Maude Callen, South Carolina’s pioneering Black nurse midwife whose work transformed rural maternal care.
March 8, 2026. 2 to 4 PM at Penn Center’s Courtney P. Siceloff Welcome Center
This special Women’s History Month program brings together history, storytelling, and today’s birth worker community for an afternoon that honors the women who helped deliver the Lowcountry.
About the Book: Discover the true story of Maude Callen, South Carolina’s pioneering Black nurse-midwife, who brought lifesaving healthcare to the rural South from 1923 to 1990. When Callen arrived in Pineville by mule-drawn wagon, she left behind Savannah’s social elite for a world of poverty, disease, and loss. But she stayed—changing lives one birth, one patient, and one home visit at a time. In 1951, Life magazine featured her work in a moving photographic essay by W. Eugene Smith, awakening the nation to her quiet heroism.
Donations poured in, and Callen’s legacy grew with the construction of a freestanding clinic in her name to serve those in need. Award-winning journalist Lindsay Street brings Callen’s story to life with rich historical detail, rare archival materials, and Callen’s own words. This inspiring biography is a must-read for lovers of Black history, Southern history, and untold stories of American medical pioneers.
About the Author: Lindsay Street is a journalist rooted in the Lowcountry soil. For more than twenty years, she reported from newsrooms across Charleston, Beaufort, Dorchester, and Berkeley Counties. A mother and homesteader, Linds lives with her husband, Henry, and their two children, Thomas and Arthur, in Berkeley County. Follow her writings and adventures at gatheringplace.substack.com.