Co-Sponsored with Southern Birth Justice Network
Friday, September 20th at 2pm ET / 1 pm CT / 11 am PT (90 min)
The words “Birth Justice” resonate in the hearts and minds of millions. But the story of how birth justice was born may be less widely known. Join us as Dr. Keisha Goode ( National Association of Certified Professional Midwives, NACPM; State University of New York (SUNY), interviews Jamarah Amani ( Southern Birth Justice Network; National Black Midwives Alliance) about the origins of birth justice and its roots in Black midwifery.
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Speaker Bios
Jamarah Amani, LM
Jamarah Amani is a community midwife who believes in the transformative and healing power of birth and that every baby has a human right to human milk. Her mission is to do her part to build a movement for Birth Justice locally, nationally and globally.
As a birthworker and advocate, Jamarah has been tackling the epidemics of Black maternal and infant morbidity and mortality for over fifteen years. She is currently the director of Southern Birth Justice Network, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working to expand the Birth Justice movement and to make midwifery and doula care accessible to all. She is also the founder of National Black Midwives Alliance, the only national professional association specifically for midwives of African descent.
Jamarah is the recipient of the 2019 Trailblazer Award from the City of Miami. She has been featured in a variety of media outlets including PBS, NPR, NBC and publications such as the Miami Times and the South Florida Times among others. She has written for several blogs including the Huffington Post and is currently a fellow of Echoing Ida, a community of Black women and non-binary writers. In addition to parenting four children and jumping in the ocean whenever possible, Jamarah offers midwifery care to families across South Florida and workshops on Birth Justice to organizations across the United States.
Keisha Goode, Ph.D.
Keisha Goode, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York-College at Old Westbury but most identifies as a Black midwifery enthusiast. Her primary research area is the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth in the U.S., with a focus on Black midwifery. She was appointed as the first Public Member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM) in 2015. She is the co-author of Pregnancy and Birth: A Reference Handbook, published with ABC-CLIO press in June of 2021. She is most proud of her book under contract with Columbia University Press: Birthing, Blackness and the Body: Black Midwives and the Pursuit of Reproductive Justice. It is an update and expansion on her 2014 dissertation about the experiences and perceptions of contemporary U.S. Black midwives. She is the recipient of the 2024 National Black Midwives Alliance Astounding Advocacy Award, an honor for which she is most proud.
