Who We Are

The National Black Midwives Alliance (NBMA) is a Black midwife-led, 501(c)(6) nonprofit membership organization representing Black midwives and Black student midwives across educational and professional pathways throughout the United States. NBMA is committed to honoring the legacy of Black midwives, building the power of Black midwives, amplifying their voices, and advancing health equity and birth justice.

Founded in 2018, NBMA was established and incubated as a project of the Southern Birth Justice Network (SBJN), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, with the long-term vision of becoming an independent national Black midwife membership association. Through this partnership, NBMA built a growing national network, programs, advocacy efforts, and organizational infrastructure focused on developing, preserving, educating, and advancing the Black midwifery workforce.

In 2025, NBMA entered a new chapter, formally incorporating as an independent organization with its own Board of Directors and organizational structure. Today, NBMA operates as an independent 501(c)(6) nonprofit membership organization, bringing together Black midwives, Black student midwives, allies, and supporters to strengthen and increase the visibility of the Black midwifery workforce, build collective power, preserve our legacy, and advocate for Black midwives, families, and communities.

We envision a world in which all Black midwives thrive and care for our families and communities without barriers.

We honor and acknowledge that Black midwives represent rich and diverse cultural legacies that shape and inform our practice today. We center these ancestral traditions as an antidote to cultural erasure and a way to reclaim and uphold the wisdom of our foremothers—whose knowledge, once dismissed or stolen, remains vital to our collective healing.

“There are a lot of traditional birthing customs that were lost throughout the years. Not only did we lose a part of our culture during slavery, but we lost a lot when our foremothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers started having their babies in the hospital. The mother wit that would normally be passed down discontinued because our grandmothers, forced with spinal taps or twilight, no longer had a story to tell.”
— Iya Sarahn Henderson

We honor our elder Black midwives for their wisdom, knowledge, and traditions. Our elders are living libraries whose teachings sustain the circle of legacy. We hold a deep responsibility to care for and uplift them, knowing that our community remains strong and whole only when we honor those who came before us.

We center cultural and community rituals as grounding practices that connect us to our ancestral lineages, particularly honoring motherwit of the African American South. These include healing traditions such as mothering the mother with home based postpartum care, “fussin bags” for pampering and energetic cleansing with plant medicine. These types of rituals are rooted in African and African diasporic legacies that affirm our collective purpose and spiritual calling. Our rituals are cultural, not religious, and serve as sacred acts of remembrance, healing, and connection.

We believe that all individuals have inherent reproductive and birthing rights. We honor the leadership of Black women, femmes, and gender-expansive people whose work has defined the reproductive and birth justice movements.

We affirm that every individual has the right to:

• Make decisions about their own body and whether or not to have children;
• Parent and raise children in safe, healthy environments free of oppression;
• Choose how, where, and with whom to give birth;
• Access culturally relevant and affirming healthcare options—regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, or geography.

We advocate for access to the resources, education, and care that uphold these rights.

We value excellence rooted in evidence-based care, cultural rigor, and ancestral wisdom. Our expertise emerges from research, lived experience, and the generational knowledge of our communities. We champion research justice, interdisciplinary collaboration, and continuous learning to ensure that Black midwifery remains both scientifically sound and culturally grounded.

We center policy and advocacy that uplifts the leadership, voices, and concerns of Black midwives and marginalized communities. We understand that policy can either perpetuate inequity or advance justice. Inclusive policymaking honors communities' right to self-determination and is essential to repairing historical and ongoing harms.

We center policy and advocacy that uplifts the leadership, voices, and concerns of Black midwives and marginalized communities. We understand that policy can either perpetuate inequity or advance justice. Inclusive policymaking honors communities' right to self-determination and is essential to repairing historical and ongoing harms.

We value community as the foundation of our collective strength. We practice inclusion, belonging, and mutual care across the full spectrum of human experience—embracing BIPOC identities, LGBTQIA+ identities, immigrants, people with disabilities, youth, and elders.
Our commitment to community means holding one another with dignity, solidarity, and collaboration, and creating spaces for peer support, mentorship, and trauma stewardship.

We believe in person-centered care that recognizes the whole person—physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social, environmental, and communal. Each aspect of a person’s life informs their reproductive and birth experience. Holistic care honors autonomy, self-determination, and the total well-being of the individual.

We acknowledge that the history of Black midwifery in the United States is intertwined with the legacies of racism, segregation, and enslavement. We stand in solidarity with movements for reparations and restitution, which seek accountability, healing, and restoration. Our work actively addresses the moral and social injuries caused by these systems of oppression and strives toward collective liberation.

We honor art and creativity as essential tools for storytelling, communication, and healing. Artistic expression allows us to reflect, connect, and reimagine our futures. We intentionally integrate art into our work as a form of cultural preservation, education, and joy.

We value joy as both a right and a revolutionary act. Joy sustains our movement, nourishes our spirits, and reminds us of our collective purpose. The pursuit of justice for Black midwives and their communities is inseparable from the right to experience joy, abundance, and wholeness.