Breastfeeding has always been a deeply personal and culturally shaped experience, particularly within the Black community. August is designated as Breastfeeding Awareness Month. As such, its meaning, acceptance, and practice in the United States have evolved over centuries—shaped by systemic oppression, cultural resilience, and shifting public health narratives. At the heart of the Black experience with breastfeeding is the historical practice of wet nursing. This practice has left lasting imprints on how breastfeeding is viewed by Black mothers and our entire community today. It also left us with deep-rooted, unspoken trauma, affecting our public health for many generations.
What Is Wet Nursing?
Wet nursing refers to the practice of one woman breastfeeding another’s child. It has existed for centuries across cultures, often practiced among wealthy families who could afford to hire (often force) others to nurse their infants. In many cases, wet nurses were relatives or neighbors. However, during slavery in the United States, this practice took on a much darker and twisted tone.
Enslaved Black Women and Forced Wet Nursing
During the transatlantic slave trade and through the era of American slavery, enslaved African women were often forced to serve as wet nurses for white families. After giving birth, many Black women were forced to nurse the children of their enslavers—sometimes at the expense of their own infants’ health and survival. In many cases, enslaved women were separated from their children or unable to breastfeed them regularly because their milk was redirected to white infants.
This exploitation was not just physical but psychological and emotional. The act of breastfeeding, a deeply bonding experience, was stripped of its maternal intimacy. Enslaved Black women had no autonomy over their bodies or their milk, which was treated as another commodity in the slave economy.
In her 1990 book Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, bell hooks noted how the exploitation of Black women’s reproductive capacities, including wet nursing, became a foundation for the devaluation of Black motherhood. This traumatic history created complex and often negative associations with breastfeeding among Black women for generations.
Post-Emancipation and Decline of Wet Nursing
After slavery was abolished, the practice of wet nursing among Black women declined but did not disappear. In the early 20th century, many Black women still served as domestic workers and caregivers in white households, including as hired wet nurses. This created a lasting stereotype: that Black women’s bodies were more suited to physical labor and caregiving roles than intellectual or leadership positions.
This stereotype lingered well into the Jim Crow era, reinforcing power imbalances and racial hierarchies in maternal care. Although white women began to view formula feeding as a symbol of modernity and affluence in the 1940s and 50s, Black women, often working in low-income roles and living in underserved communities, faced significant barriers to both breastfeeding and accessing alternatives.
White enslavers and later white employers forced or encouraged Black women to be wet nurses to their children primarily for a combination of reasons:
1. Racist Beliefs About Black Women’s Bodies
The white community believed that Black women were biologically suited for hard labor and caregiving roles—including breastfeeding. There was a rampant, pseudo-scientific belief that Black women had stronger bodies, more abundant breast milk, and could better tolerate physical strain. These ideas justified their exploitation.
2. White Women’s Social and Class Priorities
In the 18th and 19th centuries, many upper-class white women chose not to breastfeed because it was seen as unfashionable, time-consuming, or detrimental to their social life and physical appearance. Instead, they hired Black women (enslaved or poor) to do it for them.
3. Economic Exploitation During Slavery
Black enslaved women’s reproductive labor, including breastfeeding, was part of their economic value. Wet nursing was another way to extract labor. Their own infants were often neglected, underfed, or died early, while their breast milk nourished the enslavers’ children.
4. Control Over Black Motherhood
Wet nursing served as a form of control over Black women’s reproductive autonomy. By separating mothers from their babies and reassigning their nurturing role to white children, slavery erased Black motherhood as a sacred institution and reinforced white supremacy.
5. Continuation Into the Jim Crow Era
Even after slavery ended, Black women, often excluded from better jobs, were employed as domestic workers and caregivers. Some were still hired as wet nurses, reflecting the continuation of exploitative racial dynamics.
In short, white people forced Black women to be wet nurses as part of a broader system of racism, economic exploitation, and patriarchal control. The practice wasn’t about health or choice. Plain and simple, it was about ownership, domination, and convenience.
The Rise of Formula and Disconnection from Breastfeeding
From the mid-20th century onward, formula feeding became widely marketed and viewed as superior to breastfeeding, especially in the Black community. Aggressive marketing by formula companies often targeted low-income and minority populations. This deepened the disconnection from breastfeeding. Hospitals frequently offered free formula samples, and pediatricians encouraged its use without fully informing mothers of breastfeeding’s benefits.
As a result, by the 1970s and 1980s, breastfeeding rates among Black women were the lowest among all racial groups in the U.S. However, the rates have been increasing. A CDC report from 2024 revealed that 75% of Black infants were ever breastfed, compared to 86% of white infants. While structural racism, lack of access to lactation support, and workplace discrimination played major roles, the cultural memory of wet nursing also lingered, often unconsciously, as a barrier.
Reclaiming Breastfeeding in the Black Community
Despite this troubled history, Black women and public health leaders have been working to reclaim breastfeeding as an act of empowerment, wellness, and cultural healing.
In the early 2000s, national campaigns like the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee’s “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding” acknowledged the racial disparities in breastfeeding and called for community-based, culturally competent solutions.
Organizations such as the Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) and Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE) have emerged to provide education, peer support, and advocacy tailored specifically for Black families. These efforts emphasize Black maternal autonomy, cultural pride, and health equity. Initiatives like Black Breastfeeding Week and Breastfeeding Awareness Month (August), have created space for honest conversations about the historical trauma and modern challenges of breastfeeding in Black communities.
Public Health and Cultural Healing
From a public health standpoint, increasing breastfeeding rates among Black women is essential. Breastfeeding is linked to reduced risks of:
In Children
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
- Asthma
- Obesity
- Diabetes
In Mothers
- Breast cancer
- High blood pressure
However, public health strategies must go beyond statistics. For example, we must acknowledge the emotional and cultural context of breastfeeding in our community, including the trauma of forced wet nursing. Having a trauma-informed approach is more likely to build trust and increase breastfeeding initiation and duration. We must also promote Black community doulas, lactation consultants, and safe community spaces to improve outcomes.
More Black mothers are sharing their stories online, building breastfeeding communities on social media platforms, and educating others about the benefits and beauty of breastfeeding. Public health campaigns are increasingly aware that representation matters and that equity in breastfeeding is not just a medical goal but a cultural and historical reckoning.
As the legacy of wet nursing is confronted head-on, breastfeeding is slowly being reclaimed as a sacred act of nourishment, connection, and freedom not just for individual families, but for the healing of our community.
For more reading:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Breastfeeding Data and Statistics
https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/facts.html - Black Breastfeeding Week
https://blackbreastfeedingweek.org/ - Mocha Manual by Kimberly Seals Allers
Kimberly Seals Allers – Breastfeeding as Activism
https://www.mocha-manual.com - Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE)
https://www.breastfeedingrose.org/ - Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA)
https://blackmothersbreastfeeding.org/ - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH)
https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/state-local-programs/reach/index.htm - Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks
https://www.amazon.com/Aint-Woman-Black-Feminism-Classics/dp/089608129X - United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC)
The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding
https://www.usbreastfeeding.org/p/cm/ld/fid=118
