Detroit holds a powerful and often untold legacy of Black birth work.

Midwives, doctors, nurses, doulas, grandmothers, and community healers built systems of care for our people when we were excluded from mainstream medicine. Their work saved lives. Their knowledge shaped generations.

And yet, much of this history has never been fully documented, preserved, or honored.

The Black Birth Archive is a living, growing initiative dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing these stories beginning in Detroit and expanding nationally.

This work lives at the intersection of:
• Black maternal health
• Cultural preservation
• Birth justice
• Historical accountability

We are documenting the voices, experiences, and contributions of Black birth workers and families, past and present before these stories are lost.

Your support makes this possible.

With your help, we are able to:
• Collect and preserve oral histories
• Document birth workers and community narratives
• Host storytelling gatherings and community events
• Build a publicly accessible digital archive
• Lay the foundation for future exhibits and a permanent archive space

As the saying goes, “You don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you come from.”

This is about ensuring that Black birth stories are seen, valued, protected, and never erased again.

If you feel called to this work, we invite you to contribute and be part of building something that will outlive all of us.

🖤

Ways to support:
• $25 helps preserve one story
• $100 supports a birth worker interview
• $250 supports community storytelling gatherings
• $500+ helps build the digital archive infrastructure

Detroit Black Birth Archive Launch Fund