Sacred Butterfly Births

08/29/2026

08/29/2026

08/29/2026

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RUkJS_SS9Po&ra=m&fbclid=PAZnRzaAT_s3JwZG9mAmZkaWQWUNaltWzewasNeqCrzixfUrxOHSLAF2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzEyNDAyNDU3NDI4NzQxNAABp8rVQbZlFL00c6eLCe_s-EfIxRz7vNU8JFvHXScThHfxZJLPMoOYLIeZIObj_aem_50H1UL7jViAIgZk4j_TqFA

✨ African-Centered Birthwork: A Living Tradition ✨

It is with deep gratitude that I share this documentary highlighting our African-centered Birthwork Folklife Apprenticeship, supported through the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC).

During the 2023–2024 apprenticeship, I had the sacred opportunity to serve as Master Artist, sharing and transmitting traditions of African-centered birthwork — knowledge that has lived within our communities through mothers, grandmothers, aunties, birth workers, healers, and community caretakers for generations.

Birthwork is more than a profession.

It is living folklife.
It is cultural preservation.
It is ancestral knowledge.
It is ceremony, healing, nourishment, advocacy, storytelling, touch, prayer, community care, and the sacred tending of families as they move through pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and parenthood.

Through Sacred Butterfly Births, I have been honored to carry these traditions forward while teaching the next generation of birth workers how to serve families with knowledge, reverence, skill, and cultural remembrance.

I am deeply grateful to the Maryland State Arts Council for recognizing African-centered birthwork as a traditional art worthy of preservation, documentation, and transmission.

This documentary captures a portion of that journey — the teaching, the remembering, and the continuation of traditions that have sustained our communities across generations.

May the wisdom of our foremothers continue to live through our hands, our teachings, our ceremonies, and the ways we care for one another.

🎥 Watch: African-centered Birthwork Folklife Apprenticeship
Watch the documentary on YouTube⁠

Master Artist: Pansay Tayo
Sacred Butterfly Births
Maryland State Arts Council Folklife Apprenticeship

In 2023-2024, master artist Pansay Tayo (Baltimore City) taught Afr...

08/28/2026

08/27/2026

08/27/2026

08/27/2026

08/27/2026

For Black and Latino families in New York City, having an advocate in the delivery room could make a life-changing difference.

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene are expanding access to doula care as the Citywide Doula Initiative celebrates supporting more than 4,200 families.

With six hospitals now recognized through its Doula-Friendly Hospital Program, the initiative is working to make pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care safer and more supportive in communities facing some of the greatest maternal health disparities.

Learn more about what this could mean for Black mothers and families at the link in the comments. 🖤

📷: Getty Images

08/27/2026