Our very first issue of CRWNMAG in 2016 featured a powerful piece from doula educator Latham Thomas on the power of the womb. At the time, I was a 30-year-old single woman in NYC, working around the clock to bring this vision to life — more Khadijah James than Clair Huxtable.
Like all of you, so much has shifted in the years since. For me: marriage, motherhood, grief, joy, expansion… My three birth experiences called me into birth work — and eventually into building Borne — even leading me back to train with Latham herself. The creation of Borne, and the release of our first print zine, Birthing While Black: A Hospital Guide, is quite the full circle moment. And it’s been a long time coming.
Like many of you, I’d heard the terrifying maternal health stats. I prepared. And still, I felt completely unprepared — especially when my attempted home birth shifted into a hospital C-section. It wasn’t so much the change in plans, as it was what came with it: coercion, normalized medical violence, even criminalization.
When I left the hospital, I knew in my bones that 1) This was ‘bout to be a lengthy healing journey, and 2) I had to learn how to help my loved ones and our CRWNMAG community avoid what I had just experienced.
The solutions to this maternal health crisis must be varied: legislation, access, advocacy… Everyone doing what they can, where they’re at, with what they got.
We believe one of the most immediate levers is increasing our agency in pregnancy and birth — by defining more holistic standards for care, and by informing women and families of their options, rights and how to navigate the hospital as an institution, if that’s where they choose to give birth.
Because family-centered care means everyone has a role to play — in the birth space, and outside of it.
We’re grateful to our partners, BLACK Wellness & Prosperity Center, Tre Borden /Co and the James Irvine Foundation for helping us to bring this life-saving guide to life, in print.
The zine is now available, and shipping immediately.
Learn more and read excerpts from Birthing While Black: A Hospital Guide, below:
Collaborating on this zine was such a powerful learning experience. I am so happy to see it getting into the hands we intended. Love us and this is just the beginning🙏🏾✨