Midwifery + The Black Birthing Family (MBBF)
is a multidisciplinary storytelling project honoring the lived experiences, histories, and ongoing legacies of Black birthing families, midwives, and perinatal practitioners across Massachusetts.
What began as a single documentary has since evolved into a multi-part, community-led archival project, weaving together:
Film — a documentary series beginning with ORIGIN STORIES
Photography — a curated archival exhibition
Anthology — a community-written anthology, FORESYTHE
Together, these forms create a living archive—one that holds memory, testimony, and embodied knowledge across generations.
Rooted in reproductive justice, MBBF centers the intersections of:
- Black midwifery traditions
- Maternal health and policy
- Perinatal mental health
- Lineage, memory, and ancestral care
- Community-based healing practices
Through portraiture, oral history, film, and writing, the project documents not only the realities of Black birthing life—but also the networks of care, resistance, and joy that sustain it.
ORIGIN STORIES
ORIGIN STORIES serves as the cinematic entry point into the MBBF documentary series. This opening chapter grounds the work in Massachusetts landscapes, archival interviews, and the voices of eleven Birthlooms Storytellers, offering a visual and narrative preamble to the larger series.
FORESYTHE
At the heart of MBBF is FORESYTHE: Midwifery + The Black Birthing Family, a community-written anthology that holds the written archive of this work.
Through literary testimony, FORESYTHE deepens the project’s exploration of:
birth and mothering
grief and transformation
intergenerational memory
collective care
A Community-Led Archive
MBBF is not just a project—it is a collective process of witnessing...
It exists because of the Birthlooms Storytellers, midwives, families, and practitioners who have shared their lives, their stories, and their truths.
This work honors...
what has been carried
what is being lived
and what is still becoming
MBBF Premiere Weekend
April 3–5, 2026 | Boston, Cambridge & Dorchester
A three-day public offering featuring:
- MBBF Photography Exhibition
- ORIGIN STORIES MBBF Film Pre-Screening
- FORESYTHE Anthology Launch
