Black women and
Birth Work
It has long been a tradition in African culture for Mother's and birthing individuals to be surrounded and supported by a team and tribe of people. Feeding them, Helping, Pampering them and never leaving them alone. Even after being brought to the Americas as the Enslaved, Black Women and people have always had a deep connection to Birthing. There is an unspoken truth and knowledge that these Doulas, Midwives and Grand Midwives would be taken out of the small slave shack like homes and brought into the big house to birth and wet nurse many of their enslavers offspring often to the neglect of their own children. As a person of African decent who came from those same enslaved people's on my Mother's side, I don't exactly know if my Ancestors did this work but in my DNA I know these were their experiences. On my Father's side, his mother traveled from Jamaica to America to provide but also leaving her 4 children behind. She worked in almost every state along the East Coast as a Nanny, Nurse and Housekeeper finally making it and planting roots in Boston where she bought 4 winter coats and 4 plane tickets to give her children a new life. This work is my lineage. It lives within me and I wish to serve my community and others to the best of my ability.
