.

I thought I was going there to deepen my understanding of birthwork.

What I didn’t realize was that the trip would completely shift the way I understand memory, lineage, community healing, and the importance of preserving our stories.

As Black birthworkers, so much of what we carry is oral history. Wisdom passed hand to hand. Elder to younger. Granny Midwife to mother. Story to story.

But during my time in South Africa, I kept asking myself:

What happens when our stories are never archived?
What happens when Black maternal history disappears?
What happens when the people doing the work are forgotten?

Everywhere we went, I saw intentional preservation of culture, ritual, ancestry, womanhood, and collective memory. I realized that Detroit deserves that too.

Not just statistics.
Not just disparities.
Not just trauma.

But beauty.
Legacy.
Birth stories.
Black nurses.
Doulas.
Grandmothers.
Midwives.
Community healers.
Families.
Photographs.
Sacred memory.

That trip planted the seed for what is now becoming the Detroit Black Birth Archive.

The Detroit Black Birth Archive is more than a project to me.

It is a living preservation effort rooted in maternal health, Detroit history, and community storytelling.

I want future generations to know:
We were here.
We cared for each other.
We built systems when systems failed us.
We loved our babies loudly.

One of the most powerful parts of the immersion was witnessing how community memory lives through storytelling.

Dance. Songs. Memory. Testimony. Ceremony.

Our group collectively captured over 777 photos during the journey moments of learning, connection, laughter, healing, and transformation.

I’ve decided to share portions of that experience publicly because this work belongs to the community too.

View the South Africa Birth Immersion Photo & Video Collection

This is only the beginning.

The Detroit Black Birth Archive is growing into a larger vision that includes:

• oral histories,
• traveling exhibits,
• preserved artifacts,
• educational storytelling, and eventually a physical space dedicated to Black maternal history in Detroit.

I came back from South Africa understanding something deeply:

Birthwork is not separate from preservation work.

To protect Black mothers, we also have to protect Black memory.

Ase’.
Shekita Long, CHW, CBE
Founder, Detroit Black Birth Archive