My name is Shafia Monroe. I was anointed Queen Mother of the Midwife Movement on July 29, 2016, by Erickka Sy Savané, of Madamenoire.com, on said words of Monica Simpson. Savané article was titled "How Shafia M. Monroe Became Queen Mother of a Midwifery Movement", and highlights my life's work of elevating the legacy of the African American midwife.

I was just a teen when I became interested in midwifery after learning about the high infant mortality rate in my hometown, Boston, MA, in the late 70's. I wanted to make a difference right away, and I immediately began looking for Black midwives who could teach me the skills and responsibilities of becoming a home birth midwife. In my research on traditional midwifery, I learned about the honorable work of the 20th-century African midwives. Their spirit jumped off the pages and into my soul, and I knew that I wanted to walk in their legacy as a midwife who was kind, skilled, and embraced the entire family, and was a pillar in my community.

To honor their legacy, reduce infant mortality, and offer home birth services to Black families, I co-founded the Boston Traditional Childbearing Group in 1978. For 16 years, we provided perinatal education and home birth services to the Greater Boston area, and advocated for the right of Black families to have homebirth services. In 1991, with the support of Ayanna Ade, TM, CNM, I founded the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) to increase the number of Black midwives, sponsored the Black Midwives and Healers Conference, to bring Black midwives together, and organized community outreach to improve infant and maternal health.

The midwives of the 70's have done so much to expand midwifery nationally and culturally. I want perserve all the knowledge and artifacts that I have personally obtained in my midwife lifetime. And I want to honor the legacy of my peers, and entire history of the African American midwives.

I am asking for your support and donations, to help me build the home National African American Midwives Museum (NAAMM), as a retreat and learning center. I believe it is important for people to have a museum, where they can learn the rich history of Black midwives and their contributions to US maternal and infant health. At a time in history with the increasing maternal mortality rates, the proof that midwives can save lives, NAAMM is the testomonial to the need to remember the work of the midwves, and advocate for more midiwves to be expanded nationally.

In 2021, I recieved a call from my midwife of Stacy Bukfin, CPM, saying that 39 piece Alabama Black Midwife Exhibit was found in abandoedn van, and she was offering to me. The exhbit was originally shown at Smithsonian Institute years ago. This exhibit includes 30 black and white photographs and newspaper articles that chronicle the history and experiences of Black midwives of Alabama during the early 20th Century. This historical exhibit needs an permant house to be viewed by the public, and that is why I feel compelled to build NAAMM. This is one example of one of many exhibits I wish to make available to the public.

I want families to have venue, donate items from their deceased midwife member, which will be housed in the National Black Midwives Museum, for people to see and learn.

My goal is to raise upwards of $150,000 to pay for an architect to create a comprehensive floor plan, buy materials to build the museum house, with climate control for delicate artifacts, furnish the museum, and create a system for obtaining and maintaning ongoing artifacts.

I am asking for the support of my community so that we can create a place where we can learn, honor our midwives, and preserve their legacy for future generations. Let's work together to create a more informed, healthy, and empowered community for Black Women, their families, and communities, that elevates the status of the African American midwife who dedicated her life to US public health by offerring kind perinatal care, birth and postpartum services.

My goal is have the Museum completed by Novemember 30, 2026.