Being in the Room: Black Fathers, Doula Work, and Feminist Placemaking in St. Louis, Missouri

Abstract

This thesis examines how Black fathers participating in the St. Louis-based program Dads to Doulas reimagine masculinity, reproductive justice, and maternal advocacy through communal birth education. Based on two months of ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, and interviews with facilitators and participants, the project explores how Black men are trained to support partners during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care while navigating a medical system shaped by racial inequality. I argue that the program cultivates a form of benevolent masculinity rooted in care, emotional accountability, advocacy, and collective responsibility rather than dominance or stoicism. Participants challenge stereotypes of Black paternal absence by becoming informed advocates within the clinic and active contributors to family and community health. Drawing on Black feminist theory, reproductive justice, and scholarship on obstetric racism, this thesis demonstrates how Black men can be meaningfully incorporated into movements for maternal equity. Dads to Doulas reveals fatherhood as a site of healing, political consciousness, and transformative community care.