The Land

 

BirthPro's training takes place across the United States — virtually, locally, and in communities we are still growing into. Wherever you are reading or hearing these words, you are on land that belongs to Indigenous people. We encourage you to learn whose land you're on at native-land.ca.

 

We are grateful to the Native nations whose land, water, and knowledge have sustained life in every place our community reaches — including the Narragansett and Wampanoag peoples of Rhode Island, the 39 sovereign nations of Oklahoma, and the nations of Arizona including those represented through the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona. We name these places because they are home to doulas in our community. We do not name them to contain the acknowledgment — Indigenous sovereignty extends far beyond any list we could offer.

 

These nations are not historical. They are present. Their people are birthing, healing, and building today — often without the support they deserve.

 

The Labor

 

We also carry the truth that this country was built on the forced labor of enslaved Black people. The hospitals, the roads, the institutions we navigate as birth workers — many were built by Black hands that were never free, never compensated, and never fully honored.

 

That history did not end. It became policy. It became a maternal mortality crisis. Black birthing people in America are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white people. That is not a gap to be closed with better data. It is a wound that requires reckoning — and repair.

 

We name this in a birth training because we believe doulas who do not understand this history cannot fully serve the communities in front of them.

 

What We Are Actually Doing

 

We know acknowledgment without action is insufficient. This is where we are in our practice:

 

We prioritize Indigenous and Black doulas for scholarship access to our training — because representation in birth work is not optional for the communities most harmed by the current system.

 

We require all BirthPro graduates to complete Black Brilliance in Birth, a culturally responsive anti-racism module, because certification without this foundation is incomplete.

 

We center Indigenous birth perspectives as core curriculum — not a guest appearance, but foundational teaching led by Indigenous educators from our own community.

 

We are in ongoing relationship with doulas, educators, and community members who hold us accountable to these commitments.

 

A Note to White Doulas

 

It is not the job of your Black and Indigenous colleagues, clients, or peers to educate you about racism. That labor is exhausting, it is unpaid, and it has been extracted from Black and Indigenous people for far too long.

 

If you believe you are not racist, that belief is part of the problem. We are all raised in a racist system. That is not an accusation — it is a starting point. Owning that is not an act of self-flagellation. It is the first honest step toward doing less harm.

 

Your guilt is not useful to anyone. Your accountability is.

 

Do the reading. Pay for the education. Sit with the discomfort. And then show up differently — in the birth room, in your community, and in the systems you have access to that your Black and Indigenous colleagues may not.

 

That is what this training asks of you.

 

We Are Still Learning

 

We will make mistakes. We are committed to being corrected and to continuing anyway.

 

If something in this acknowledgment misses the mark — please tell us. We mean it.

connect@birthpro.org

 

If You Want to Go Further

 

We don't want this to end here. A few places to start:

• Find whose land you're on — native-land.ca

• Pay a voluntary land tax — honortax.org

• Shuumi Land Tax — sogoreate-landtrust.org

• Follow and fund Indigenous maternal health advocates in your region

• Support Black-led birth organizations and doula funds in your community

• Read Elements of Indigenous Style by Gregory Younging

• Ask yourself regularly: whose comfort am I centering, and whose safety?

 

This is a living document. As our community grows, as relationships deepen, and as our understanding evolves — so will this acknowledgment.

 

BirthPro Doula Training & Family Education · birthpro.org