Sep 15, 2022
Jamarah Amani, LM 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. Jamarah is the architect of the Birth Justice
framework, the Black Midwives Model of Care and
the Birth Justice Bill of Rights. She identifies as
Black, Femme and Queer.
A community organizer from the age of sixteen, Jamarah has
worked with several organizations across the United States, the
Caribbean and in Africa on various public
health issues, including HIV prevention, infant mortality risk
reduction, access to emergency contraception and access to
midwifery care. As a birth worker and activist,
Jamarah has been tackling issues of racial justice, including the
epidemics of Black maternal and infant morbidity/mortality for over
fifteen years. She is currently the Executive 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 marginalized communities. She is also the co-founder
of National Black Midwives Alliance, the only national professional
association in the U.S. specifically for
midwives of African descent, and a founding member of the Queer and
Transgender Midwives Association.
Jamarah is the recipient of the 2019 Trailblazer Award from the
City of Miami, which proclaimed a day in her honor- Jamarah Amani
Day, celebrated annually on March 14.
She has been featured in a variety of media outlets including PBS,
NPR, NBC and publications such as Vox, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
and Miami Times, among others. She has written for several blogs
including the Huffington Post and the Birth Justice blog, and is a
fellow of Echoing Ida, a collective of Black women and
non-binary
writers. In addition to parenting four children and watching the
sunrise whenever possible, Jamarah offers midwifery care to
families in South Florida and teaches
workshops on Birth Justice to organizations across the United
States. Jamarah is currently producing a documentary entitled
Legacy Power Voice: Movements in Black Midwifery with her partner,
filmmaker Karyl-Lyn Sanderson, scheduled to be released in
2022.
In this episode we discuss:
- The root causes of health disparities in marginal communities.
- Why the black maternal mortality rate is so high and what needs to be done to lower the number.
- What full spectrum reproductive care consists of.
- Questions black mothers & families should ask their providers and the research they should do to arm themselves with information.
Learn more about Jamarah and her work with Southern Birth Justice Network and National Black Midwives Alliance .
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Connect with me:
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolegcumberbatch/ Website: https://www.themotherhoodvillage.com/
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