August 25-31st was declared the first annual Black Breastfeeding Week. The theme for this first year was “Black Lives Matter”. This movement, created for and lead by black women, was an inspiration for community led action in the breastfeeding community.
Black Breastfeeding Week founding members are an impressive list of leaders in breastfeeding advocacy. They include author, journalist and nationally recognized breastfeeding advocate, Kimberly Seals Allers of the Mocha Manual and speaker at CPM Symposium 2012; Kiddada Green, the founding director of the Detroit-based Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association (BMBF) and co-founder of the Brown Mamas Breastfeed Project ; and Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka, of Free to Breastfeed and MomsRising.org.
Kimberly Seals Allers
Black Breastfeeding week was supported by many other advocacy organizations, including:
ROSE, MomsRising.org, MyBrownBaby.org, BlackandMarriedWithKids, JhaZamora Publishing, the St. John Hospital and Medical Center, and the National Association of Birth Centers and Clinics of Color.
The week kicked off with a local meeting of the Black Mother’s Breastfeeding Club in Detroit and continued online for the remainder of the week. Online events included the Black Lives Matter Forum, a free live lactation support session hosted by the BMBF Association, and a tweetchat hosted by Ebony Magazine. This online presence was noted by the BBW13 Facebook, page earning over 1400 “likes” during in just less than two weeks and many articles and blog posts being shared and picked up my larger publications including Ebony Magazine and Ms. Magazine.
Congratulations to the founders and everyone who worked so hard on this incredible week. NACPM looks forward to Black Breastfeeding Week 2014!
Suzy Myers, CPM President
Mary Lawlor, CPM Executive Director