Jamaa Birth Village

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Jamaa Birth Village

The Historic Jamaa Birth Village Cultural Heritage Center envisions a world where birth is sacred, community-led, and rooted in ancestral wisdom.

We preserve and elevate African Indigenous midwifery through care, culture, education, and advocacy. For more information please call 314-643-7703 or visit JamaaBirthVillage.org

12/22/2025

Prior to nutrition labels and meal plans becoming the norm, pregnancy care lived and began in nature and in the kitchen, with wisdom filled recipes passed down from elders.

Across the African diaspora, pregnant women were nourished with warm, simple meals made from whole ingredients. Foods were chosen for how they made the body feel, how they supported strength, and how they carried life forward gently.

This pregnancy recipe comes from that lineage. A meal built to steady energy, support healthy blood flow, and offer comfort during a time when the body is doing sacred work.

At Jamaa, we honor these food traditions as part of prenatal care. They remind us that nourishment is relational, passed down, practiced daily, and still alive.

This is one of the ways living knowledge continues in our community.

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12/21/2025

We are honored to open a new chapter at The Historic Jamaa Birth Village Cultural Heritage Center through the restoration of traditional midwifery education grounded in communal care, ancestral knowledge, and cultural truth.

Okunsola’s School of Traditional Midwifery- funded in part by a multi-year grant with Chicago Beyond -is Missouri’s first ever midwifery school & first Black owned midwifery school, created to restore the origins, traditions, and sacred calling of caring for women, babies, and families within community.

Applications for this two year dual pathway program officially opens on the Winter Solstice, December 21st at 12:00 PM CST. The program is grounded in global traditional midwifery practices and centers cultural preservation, community wellness, and ancestral knowledge, preparing graduates as designated Traditional Midwives and with the clinical and academic requirements to sit for the NARM to become a CPM. An optional additional year of study is available for those seeking cross training as a Birth Priestess™, rooted in African Indigenous Midwifery traditions.

In recognition of the women called to this work, and in response to ongoing economic uncertainty and cultural erasure impacting Black communities, scholarship options are available. Applicants who are residents of Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma are eligible to apply for a full scholarship. Scholarship funding is provided by Chicago Beyond and The Global Folk Midwife Foundation™. Applicants from all other states are welcome to apply at the regular tuition rate, with payment plan and external scholarship options available.

An overview of the two year school format, which blends in person and remote learning, is available at jamaabirthvillage.org.

For those interested in learning more before applying, virtual Interest Circles will be held on January 18th at 2:00 PM CST and February 1st at 4:00 PM CST. These sessions will provide additional context beyond what is shared online.

Applications close March 23, 2026 at 8:00 PM CST.

The inaugural cohort begins Autumn 2026 on Wednesday, September 23rd.

The next generation of midwives begins here.
Learn more and apply at: https://jamaabirthvillage.org/become-a-midwife/nal

12/19/2025

Family Doula Trainings are coming in 2026.

These upcoming trainings will focus on preparing family members to provide informed, compassionate support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

Full scholarships are provided by The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Our youth, adults and elders are welcome to apply.

Registration for 2026 will open on January 12th. Visit jamaabirthvillage.org to learn more and to stay informed.

12/18/2025

Founding Membership at the African Indigenous Midwifery Museum is designed to honor every level of commitment, from families who want to stay connected to the spirit of AIMM to cultural scholars who are called to invest in deeper preservation work.

Community Member✨
This level is for individuals and families who want regular access to the museum, research library, and events. It offers unlimited admission, reading room access, shop discounts, and a welcome gift.

It is an entry point for those who want to stay close to the work and support it consistently.

Midwife Cultural Heritage Contributor✨
This level is for those who want a more immersive relationship with AIMM. In addition to Community Member benefits, Contributors receive invitations to exhibit previews, priority registration, deeper discounts, and early access to select archives.

It is ideal for birth workers, students, and cultural supporters who want to engage more intentionally in AIMM’s work.

Ancestral Midwife Circle Patron✨
This is our premier tier for cultural scholars, researchers, and visionaries who want to stand at the center of preservation efforts. Patrons receive unlimited research appointments, behind-the-scenes access, recognition on AIMM’s Donor Wall, and a complimentary masterclass.

This level directly supports scholarship, archives, and long-term conservation.

Each membership strengthens the museum and ensures our stories are protected for generations.

Become a Founding Member at jamaabirthvillage.org.

12/17/2025

In African Indigenous midwifery, care begins before pregnancy, and even before conception.

Preconception is a time of preparation. It is when the body, mind, and spirit are supported to create the conditions for new life. Nourishment, rest, emotional balance, and the environments surrounding future parents all matter during this phase.

Fertility-since ancient times, has been understood as something shaped by daily habits, community support, physical well-being and ancestral knowledge. Preparation was thoughtful and intentional, and never rushed or hurried.

To learn more about preconception care, fertility support, and community based midwifery services, visit jamaabirthvillage.org.

12/16/2025

In many traditions, the foundations for a healthy pre-conception phase for optimal fertility, is supported through daily habits and everyday care rituals.

Meals were a part of how the body was being prepared, strengthened, and aligned over time, building up nutrient, mineral and energy stores in creating a sacred home for new life to grow. Simple foods with steady nourishment was the key.

This fertility recipe reflects that approach. It is about supporting the body in a gentle, grounded way and honoring preparation as part of the journey.

At Jamaa, we hold fertility as a process that deserves care before pregnancy begins. These traditions remind us that readiness is built, not rushed.

12/15/2025

At Jamaa, we honor the sacred seasons of the earth that bring wisdom, guidance, and direction in living in sync with our planets ebb and flow. The wisdom of Winter in the northern hemisphere invites us to hibernate, slow down, listen inward, and honor the quiet season of restoration and gentle calm.

Since 2021, Jamaa has honored a traditional ceremony of rest from December to January. This year our organization will continue this sacred ceremony and tradition of honoring the slowing down of the earth and our bodies, from December 12th, returning to office January 12, 2026.

During this time, our team will rest, renew, and cozy in with our families, dreams and visions for the future.

Thank you for honoring this time with us, as we honor this sacred pause.

We look forward to returning this January with each of you, renewed and standing fully in our purpose.

-Team Jamaa

12/11/2025

So much of Jamaa’s work has happened quietly …in living rooms, at kitchen tables, in community meetings, in motherhood circles, in study, and in service.

Jamaa’s documentary will finally show the world what our community already knows: this legacy was built with intention, courage, and deep cultural care-in honor of our ways, our tradition and our heritage.

12/09/2025

Honoring the Hands That Healed Before Us

From Mother Catherine Seals calling for justice with a trumpet in her hand, to the fertility artifacts that carried prayers of love across the continent, this collection reminds us that birthwork has always been sacred and deeply creative.

✨ Mother Catherine Seals Exhibit
A spiritual mother and healer who fought for women, protected the most vulnerable, and created a space where thousands found care during Jim Crow. With custom beaded artwork curated by Nana Sula Janet Evans of New Orleans-this exhibit comes to life honoring midwives and healers of the past.

✨ Fertility Artifacts From the Continent
Honoring traditions from Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and Congo-centering joy, nourishment and intention, through carefully created fertility pieces from the 1800s and beyond, carved from ancient trees such as the Rosewood. These artifacts tell the story between nature, mothers and midwives, as they call new life into the womb.

✨ Yemaya Carries Us Exhibit
Featuring the custom art work of Racha Tahani Lawler Queen, a fourth generation midwife and artist whose pieces blend ancestry, spirituality and the everyday labor of caring for Black life.

✨ Birth in Primordial Antiquity Exhibit
A recreated precolonial birth setting that brings us closer to the tools, rituals and community based support that shaped early human birth.

At AIMM, every artifact and every story offers the same true reminder-our traditions were not completely lost. They were carried forward by healers, midwives, artists and families who refused to let them disappear.

The full collection and exhibition will be available to view in January at the African Indigenous Midwifery Museum. Be sure to book your tour on our website.

12/08/2025

In African Indigenous Midwifery, wisdom was written in ancient texts while also being carried in stories, songs, and through mentorship & guidance from our elders.

For centuries, midwives have taught through presence, showing, guiding, and inviting the next generation to learn by watching and doing. Each birth attended was a lesson and a passing on of ancient knowledge to be integrated in the future. Each story shared and wisdom spoken, was a reminder of what it means to serve with heart and humility.

We carry this lineage forward at Jamaa. Our work is grounded in mentorship, storytelling, and community exchange, ensuring that what was once nearly lost will continue to live and grow.

Every future midwife that will be trained at Jamaa through Okunsola’s School of Traditional Midwifery-carries skill, legacy, cultural integrity and communal power.

Learn more about our commitment to preserving African Indigenous Midwifery at jamaabirthvillage.org.

12/05/2025

In African Indigenous tradition, food is medicine, memory, and connection, and is vastly considered more than fuel for the body.

At Jamaa, we teach that nourishment begins long before birth and continues through every stage of motherhood. Whole grains, legumes, fermented foods, nuts, seeds, local fruits, and responsibly raised meats form the foundation of vitality.

These foods restore balance, build strength, and honor the body’s natural wisdom. Each meal is a reminder that care starts from within, guided by the knowledge passed down through generations.

This is how we nourish life with wisdom from Africa, to your family table.

12/04/2025

Birth has always belonged to the one giving birth, and their family, across generations. Birthing bold and courageously through autonomous freedom of movement with gravity in full support-is a human right.

Before hospital beds and monitors became “childbirth norms”, women gave birth in instinctively guided positions: squatting, kneeling, resting in water, or finding their strength beside a tree.

These postures also honored the body's wisdom, as gravity, personal preferences, and nature assisted in bringing forth life.

We are preserving this traditional knowledge of birthing at AIMM and AIM LRI and teaching it as living knowledge, not as alternatives but as blueprints, at Okunsola’s School of Traditional Midwifery.

This traditional knowledge reminds us that the body knows, and that birth in its authentic form is natural and sacred.

Learn more about our work to preserve African Indigenous Midwifery at jamaabirthvillage.org

Address

St. Louis, MO

Telephone

+13146437703

Website

https://jamaabirthvillage.org/

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