Jamaa Birth Village

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Jamaa Birth Village

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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

10/20/2026

Midwifery care at Jamaa is culturally integrated, clinical and spiritually grounded. It’s being seen, heard, supported, and cared for as a whole person & family.

At Jamaa Birth Village here in St. Louis, our care flourishes in tradition, community, and holistic wellness for both mama and baby.

Whether you are preparing for birth, navigating pregnancy, or looking for culturally-aligned support, we got you.

Learn more about midwifery care at Jamaa: www.jamaabirthvillage.org

10/16/2026

Indigenous Midwifery and the motherline of all beings, descends from Africa and African women.

At the African Indigenous Midwifery Museum, and through creative storytelling, exhibitions, artifacts and art-we trace the lineage and herstory of midwifery & mothering back to its roots.

The “Primoridal Birth in Antiquity” exhibit in AIMM’s storytelling room, welcomes guests into a precolonial birthing scene, with ancient fertility, midwife musical and fertility artifacts.

Fertility rituals and ceremonies in Africa was a part of normal life deeply integrated into its customs, where in some countries sacred wood from trees like the Rosebush tree, was sacredly prepared and utilized to carve fertility statues to mirror the desire of conceiving and mothering.

Newly married women would receive a blessed fertility statue or “doll”, sometimes newly carved or other times receiving her own mother’s or grandmothers doll. The newly married woman would wear the fertility doll on her back, nourishing it with offerings and dressing it in beaded adornments as she would her own child. After conceiving and birthing, she would oftentimes place the doll on the family shrine, where it would be the centerpiece as the new little one was raised, oftentimes again with the doll later being passed on through the lineage.

AIMM restores and brings to life, African Indigenous Midwifery practices, right in the heart of Ferguson, MO through care, storytelling and education. Follow us for more!

10/15/2026

Praise for “When the Water Speaks”!🌊

10/10 welcomed the Premiere release of Jamaa’s 1st Documentary, chronicling its Founders journey from a student midwife, praying and signing to the ocean along Ghana’s Gold Coast in Elmina’s Central Region.

The film unfolds as she receives a vision to not only become a home birth midwife, but to go back to Ferguson, MO where she was raised as a child-to pioneer a Black Indigenous midwifery & doula movement. And that she does, obediently, courageously and boldly.

The Historic Jamaa Birth Village Cultural Heritage Center is now a multi-award winning African Indigenous Midwifery care organization, featuring a traditional midwifery school, museum and library research institute.

The premier featured guests Harriett from Chicago Beyond, Jamaa’s multi-year grant partner funding Okunsola’s School of Traditional Midwifery School and who helped to make this film possible. The magical moment of the evening arose when OSTM students were able to meet with the very funders making their educational pathway and scholarships possible. A full circle moment!✨

The premiere also featured a panel from Executive Producer Okunsola M. Amadou-Jamaa’s Founder, Film Director Myrina Oreo-Myton- a 4x Jamaa Mom and Founder of Renaissance TJS Photography, and Cinematographer Von Davis-an STL Black Father & film maker.

The panel awakens the purpose of the film and why it is necessary for Black leaders, pioneers and trailblazers to tell their own stories.

The premier anchored the sacred space with an altar of Black Midwifery ancestors, inviting their legacy and power into the space. A huge thank you to everyone who attended and for those who registered to host a screening near you! “When the Waters Speaks” is crossing the waters, going global, and inspiring lives across the diaspora.💜✨

10/14/2026

The community that we’ve built at Jamaa is contagious!

The joy, laughter, honesty, deep care and genuine support sustains us as our everlasting foundation.

What happens when we join together in love, in joy and celebration? What happens when this shared love and kindred oneness is expressed authentically across generations, young, old and in between? What happens when we don’t just pioneer, pave the way and lead, yet be bold enough to allow our future generation of young ones and inspiring midwives to also simultaneously lead us to greatness?

This weekend, we felt in our hearts and bodies the answer to these many questions as we celebrated 11-full, exciting and transformational years of Jamaa Birth Village! We are filled, we are restored and we are vibrant from our time together.

This is Jamaa-living, breathing and existing in the same joy our ancestors poured into us to walk with-abundantly. May the continued fight for Black midwifery and birth equity, justice and restoration never take away our light, our power or our divine joy.

We are here, whole, full and well. 10/10 was all that it was meant to be and more! A big thank you to all who attended and joined us. More to come!💜

📸: Renaissance TJS Photography

10/12/2026

Thank you for a successful 10/10 Jamaa Birth Village Anniversary Celebration and for a beautiful screening of “When the Waters Speak”! Much gratitude to our Film Director Myrina Renaissance TJS Photography and Cinematographer Von Davis, we appreciate you! ✨

Our hearts our full of joy as we revisit the beautiful memories, experiences and transformational moments of our full day together.

From the Ferguson cultural & midwifery history tour, to a full immersive experience at the African Indigenous Midwifery Museum, to a dynamic evening at 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis, full of dancing, great music, fun, laughter and togetherness-we will hold sacred the expansive relationships and work of our village.

Many continued thanks to our volunteers: Chasity Cosby, Shiloh, Christienne Leigh Hinz, and Naomi GALORE, who took great care of our guests and behind the scenes ensured our day was seamless and impactful.💜

Thank you SO much to our Executive team members Candess and Madelaine for all of their hard work and brilliance that powered the success of 10/10. Many thanks simiya for your continued work at the African Indigenous Midwifery Museum up ahead of 10/10!

We’re extending a heartfelt thanks to our Funder & Partner Chicago Beyond for being present with us to witness the impact of Jamaa’s work with our OSTM students and the future of midwifery. And to our OSTM students, thank you for being present, supportive and a part of this sacred work! To our friends and community partners Birth Center Equity and the Black Midwifery Collective, thank you for being on this journey with us investing Black Midwifery and its legacy!✨

We’re excited to share more memories in the coming days! Our team will take a gentle rest this week from our day to day operations, and will be back to the great work we do next Monday 10/19💜

10/10/2026

Happy 10/10 and Jamaa Anniversary Celebration Day!

We’re beyond excited and joyful with deep gratitude from our friends, families, supporters, funders and partners who are visiting Jamaa this weekend from across the nation-to celebrate 11-Years of Jamaa.

This morning, we journeyed on a historic tour of Ferguson, MO, followed by a cultural tour of the African Indigenous Midwifery Museum.

Next up, the Premiere Screening of, “When the Waters Speak”!🎥🌊

10/07/2026

“Midwives belong to the people, families and communities-not the system.”-Jamaa

This year we’re celebrating National Midwifery Week with midwives all over the globe who do this amazing work. We’re thanking every midwife who’s joined us in the fight to make birth better.

We’re uplifting Black midwives and boldly bringing our cultural, ancestral and spiritual practices, right along with us! We’re reclaiming, proclaiming and joyously saying-Midwives are the answer! Bring back midwives to every community and village.💙

When the system has shattered the healing remedies, sacred generational ceremonies and practices that have benefited birthing women and families for years, we at Jamaa Birth Village call in the power and gift of Sankofa-to go back and get our wisdom, activate it and keep going.🙌🏾

Don’t forget who you are, don’t forget who WE are, and don’t forget what midwifery really is and what it really was before colonization and criminalization.

May midwives all over unite despite systemic credentials and call in recognition, investment and the support we so deserve. Happy National Midwifery week and Happy Community Midwife month, today and everyday.💙✊🏾💙

BirthRetreatSTL WeCanMakeBirthBetter NationalMidwiferyWeek

10/05/2026

Happy National Midwifery Week & Community Midwife Month as celebrated in St. Louis County!

This week, we’re centering the future of Midiwfery, starting with our OSTM students💜

STLPR | Antinia Starr had a rough birthing experience as well. Her doctor rushed her delivery, which caused her pain and anxiety. She said she knows the disparities surrounding Black maternal healthcare and hopes the school can help reduce those numbers.

“Not every doctor is the same, but unfortunately, the stigma and the stereotype and the tradition continues and is passed on,” Cage said. “If a doctor goes to a preceptor who has that bias, they’re going to teach their student that bias and that bias is going to go to the next student.”
Cage is a doula and is excited to add lesser-known African Indigenous birthing methods to her practice. She said clinical settings today can be overwhelming for new mothers, especially those of color. She wants to bring more care and observance to the practice to help Black women feel seen and protected while giving birth.

“Having a baby is natural. We’ve been having babies since the beginning of time, and it’s always been a birthing person in our lives — granny midwives or the village healer — that’s always been there,” Cage said. “It shouldn’t be hard to have a baby.”

Let’s show some love to our Future Black Midwives!!

This photo and interview was covered by Andrea Henderson with St. Louis Public Radio.

10/03/2026

Join us on Saturday October 10th, in St. Louis, for the Premiere Screening of, “When the Waters Speak.”

When the Waters Speak, tells a story of a Black Student Midwife who voyages to Elmina, Ghana West Africa to study midwifery. As she sings ancient songs every morning to Mami Wata & Yemoja, paying homage to the sea and her ancestors, along the Atlantic Coast across from the Elmina Enslaved Dungeon-she received an ancestral vision to create a birthing village in America.

This film traces her footsteps and lineage in pioneering a pathway, revolution and movement to restore Black Midwifery in Ferguson, MO, and beyond, while becoming Missouri’s 1st Black Midwife, opening the states first Black Midwifery Clinic, Midwifery School & Midwifery Museum.

See you on 10/10🎥

Address

St. Louis, MO

Telephone

+13146437703

Website

https://jamaabirthvillage.org/

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