Jamaa Birth Village Cultural Heritage Center opened Missouri's first midwifery school in Ferguson this month.
Okunsola's School of Traditional Midwifery will provide students a path toward becoming a certified midwife through African Indigenous and professional birthing methods.
Most midwifery schools across the country are not inclusive; oftentimes there are not many Black students and staff in the schools, which perpetuates bias and discrimination during birth, said Okunsola Amadou, founder of Jamaa Birth Village.
"Having to go through being a Black student in a mostly all-white institution, you deal with bias, you deal with racism, you deal with microaggressions," she said. "When you're on your path to your calling to really serve families and make sure that birth is handled the right way … you're carrying on your back the way you are being treated and the way you're being held."
Amadou said the school is desperately needed. In Missouri, Black women are 2½ times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white women. She opened the Ferguson midwifery and doula care center in 2015 to help reduce Black maternal health disparities in the St. Louis region and to support pregnant people who want to give birth outside the traditional clinical settings.
The school is supported by a $1 million multiyear grant from Chicago Beyond, a nonprofit that addresses inequities. The grant awarded more than $317,000 in scholarships to 13 cohort members.
Students in the two-year program will be matched with Jamaa's midwives and its clinic's residents. Throughout the program, students will have prenatal, well-woman and postpartum clinic rotations. They will also attend newborn check-ups and observe live births with Jamaa Birth Village's midwives. Students will attend in-person classes four times a month, as well as additional virtual courses.
Graduates will leave the program with a folk midwife designation and will be prepared to take the North American Registry of Midwives exam to become licensed as a certified professional midwife.
"We're building a community right here in our historic location, where we have already done so many beautiful things to help to restore Black birth," said Amadou.
Most of the cohort members had traumatic birth experiences and wished they had a midwife or doula to support them during the life changing event. However, this pushed many like Jade Jackson toward the school; she could not see another Black woman withstand what she did while giving birth.
"I am a mother of three girls. Every birth that I had was deplorable … as I got older, I had bad fibroids and I had to have a hysterectomy at a very young age," Jackson said. "My why, is so that every other woman who wants to have a baby and deliver, to not have to experience what I experienced."
Antinia Cage 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."
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