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, communal and grounded in ancestral wisdom.

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

02/05/2026

Lately, we’ve been spending time with Women’s Wisdom from the Heart of Africa by Sobonfu Somé.

This audiobook carries teachings about womanhood, community, ritual, and the ways knowledge is passed through lived experience. It’s the kind of listening that invites you to slow down and really sit with what’s being shared.

This title is part of the African Indigenous Midwifery Library and Research Institute collection and is available for in-library listening and research access.

These are the voices we return to when remembering how care, wisdom, and community have always been held for childbearing women, elders and girls coming into womanhood across the ages.

02/04/2026

A mother, her twins, and the work of the day.
Bukavu, Congo. Circa 1967.

These images and their depth, holds so much more than just a moment in time. It reflects the reality of motherhood carried alongside labor, community care & responsibility, and life itself. Across African societies, women have always nurtured children while sustaining families, markets, and entire communities, while keeping their babies close to them for nourishment.

These are the lived histories that inform African Indigenous Midwifery. Birth, caregiving, and daily life moving together harmoniously, not separated.

Preserving these images means preserving the truth of how women have always carried life forward.

Repost from
•
ca 1967. Portrait of a Congolese woman, with her twin babies, carrying tomatoes to the market, Bukavu, Congo (Democratic Republic)
Photographed by Eliot Elisofon
Source: Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)

02/03/2026

There is so much unfolding at the African Indigenous Midwifery Museum this season, and we invite you to come experience it with us.

This quarter brings new programs, virtual conversations, research opportunities, and guided tours that deepen our connection to midwifery history, cultural memory, and community care. Whether you are visiting in person or joining us online, there are many ways to engage, learn, and be part of what’s growing here.

If you are in the St. Louis area, we welcome you to schedule a guided tour and spend time inside the museum. If you are joining us from afar, our virtual events offer space to learn and connect from wherever you are.

Visit jamaabirthvillage.org to explore upcoming events, museum hours, and ways to get involved.

02/02/2026

The 3rd Annual Missouri Black Maternal Health Summit is returning this April, and this year-we’re celebrating in STL- the home of the Missouri Black Midwifery Movement!🎉

Jamaa in collaboration with will host this year’s gathering centered on cultural care, communal wisdom, and collective action, in support of Black maternal health liberation. Over two days, we will come together with community leaders, birth workers, advocates, and families to learn, connect, and push the work forward in meaningful ways.

✨When & Where✨
April 16–17, 2026
St. Louis, Missouri

This summit is for those committed to improving outcomes, honoring lived experience, and building communal systems of care that truly serve Black mothers and families. Stay tuned to learn more about our dynamic keynote speakers, details on field trips and our transformative line-up.

Registration is free and open to all!
Join us at: moblackmaternalhealthsummit.com💜

02/01/2026

Happy Black History Month Jamaa Birth Village Family!🫶🏾

This February we’re treasuring every moment in being with the mamas we serve, learning & sharing with current and future midwives and doulas in our community while elevating with our wonderful partners and collaborators.💜

We have so many wonderful in-person and virtual offerings this month. Swipe or read below to learn more, to join us and to stay in the loop✨

2/1: Okunsola’s School of Traditional Midwifery: Virtual Interest Circle at 4:00pm CST

2/2: Missouri’s 3rd Annual Black Maternal Health Summit Registration Opens

2/17: Black Midwifery World History at Noon

2/18-2/28: Black History Month tours at the Black Midwifery Museum & Library: African Indigenous Midwifery Museum

Stay tuned as we call in Black brilliance, healing, collaborative care, innovation, and forward motion power.🙌🏾

01/30/2026

Every culture knows this truth: grandmothers don’t just help raise babies, they honor who they’re becoming through love, attention and deep care.

When a grandmother holds a newborn, she’s passing along family memories, protection, and love that can’t be taught.

This is the village in motion. The hands that raised us, now carrying forward the next generation.

We smile deeply because we recognize this heart warming moment.💜✨

🎥: • TT

01/29/2026

We are deeply honored to have UmmSalaamah Abdullah-Zaimah, MSN, CNM (Ret.), CPM as a Legacy Elder Board Member of The Historic Jamaa Birth Village Cultural Heritage Center.

Known lovingly as “Mother of Peace,” UmmSalaamah is one of the most revered elder midwives of our time. With more than 50 years of practice and over 4,000 births attended across the globe, her life’s work embodies the sacred continuity of ancestral midwifery knowledge.

Her journey into midwifery began when she left her career as a Brooklyn police officer to train at The Farm with Ina May Gaskin, answering a call from her community to serve. She later became a Certified Nurse Midwife and the first Black woman to graduate from Emory University’s midwifery program, going on to practice and teach across the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa.

UmmSalaamah has played a foundational role in shaping modern community midwifery, including serving as President of the Community Midwives National Alliance, helping establish the Certified Community Midwife credential, chairing the committee that became the North American Registry of Midwives, and founding organizations such as Midwives on the Move and being a part of the International Center for Traditional Childbearing.

Her life’s mission is clear: to ensure that every community has a midwife who is known, trusted, and culturally anchored. Her wisdom reminds us that when women are taught, whole nations are healed.

We give thanks for her living legacy, her guidance, and the generations she continues to nourish. 🌿🤍

01/28/2026

Color has always been part of healing therapies across many traditions, and is a key element in the overall journey towards well-being in motherhood.

The shades that surround a woman during pregnancy and motherhood can influence how the body feels and responds.

Soft earth tones help the body feel grounded and safe. Greens support balance and nature related healing. Blues calm the nervous system, encourage rest and welcome honest communication that frees the body when it’s holding too much. Warm yellows and golds bring light and gentle energy that welcome vibrancy and abundance. Deep reds and terracotta support warmth, strength, and restoration after birth.

These choices were intentional and a welcomed addition in honoring the journey towards a thriving life. Color was used alongside wisdom to support the body, emotions, and spirit through each stage of care.

Take a moment and notice which color your body is drawn to right now… let us know in the comments.

01/27/2026

In African Indigenous postpartum healing, the first instruction is always the same. Slow down, be gentle with yourself, and welcome your bodies intuitive guidance to lead you.

It’s also good to:
Keep your body warm
Nourish yourself with foods that restore you
Allow your baby to be close to your body-for their own healing transition to life outside of the womb
Allow the women and family members around you to step in so you can heal without rushing

After birth, the body is still open and tender. This is why rest is protected and care is shared. The mother is not meant to carry everything alone during this season.

These are cultural norms that makes caring for yourself possible and deeply rewarding. This wisdom has been passed down for generations, and it still matters.

Learn more about African Indigenous postpartum care at jamaabirthvillage.org.

01/26/2026

This proverb reminds us that motherhood has always been protected by forces greater than fear or opposition.

Ancestors who walked before us, bearing the weight so we may have a blueprint of vision, power and insight.

A Creator who entrusted life into our care.
A lineage that continues through every birth, every triumph, and every act of love.

These words are a grounding for mothers, families, and birth workers alike.

You are not walking alone.

You are standing in generations of strength.

01/23/2026

It takes many hands to hold a village.

From caring for families to preserving history, this work has always been sustained by community. Volunteers help keep the doors open, the stories protected, and the mission moving forward.

If you feel called to support Black maternal health, cultural preservation, or community care, there is a place for you here. Whether your gifts are time, skills, or presence, they matter.

If you’re interested in volunteering with Jamaa or the African Indigenous Midwifery Museum, we invite you to learn more and get involved. Volunteer orientation will begin in March 2026. Stay tuned.

01/22/2026

So much of midwifery history has lived in people’s homes, memories, and hands.

Photographs tucked away in albums, books passed down, and stories told across kitchen tables. Many of us hold sacred archives and records that never made it into formal archives but carried generations of wisdom.

The African Indigenous Midwifery Museum and Library Research Institute is committed to preserving these materials with care, respect, and cultural integrity. Books, photographs, oral histories, artifacts, and family or community records all help tell a fuller story of Black midwives and communal care.

These stories deserve to be protected and remembered. If you have items or materials connected to midwifery, birth work, or family caregiving traditions, you are invited to be part of this preservation work, by emailing us at: blackmidwifemuseum@jamaabirthvillage.org.

Address

St. Louis, MO

Telephone

+13146437703

Website

https://jamaabirthvillage.org/

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