Issue No. 4: Black Maternal Health
Photography + Words - Solana Cain

“We often envision the hallmark of slavery’s inhumanity as the slave picking cotton under the overseer’s lash. As much as slaves’ forced labor, white’s control of slave women’s wombs perpetrate many of slavery’s greatest atrocities.”

— Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and the meaning of Liberty

Once, Black Mothers had to decide whether to be complicit in producing human chattel for their masters. Today, expectant Black mothers in America are faced with the decision whether to be admitted into the hospital, where they are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. This disparity is not tied to economics or education, rather, it is the lived experience of being a Black Woman in America. In Canada, however, very limited studies have been done on experiences of Black women giving birth. We lack the evidence, yet the birth stories from Black women in our community tell of inaccessible resources and obstetric violence.

These portraits and statements from each mother, recognize, honour and celebrate Black Motherhood. With the additional intent of shedding a light on racial inequality within the maternity ward and the meaning of Black reproductive justice.

Solana Cain is a freelance photojournalist, facilitator and birth worker. Her intent is to recognize and honour the myriad of lived experiences of Black women and girls through photography. Solana is a currently training to become a childbirth educator after completing doula training. Developed while an artist in residence at Nia Centre for the Arts in Toronto, ON, Canada.