Black History Month Tools & Resources

“History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read.  And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past.  On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.  It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations.” 

---- James Baldwin

Organizations, Resources, Tools, and Materials

• African-American Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon
• African American History Month

• Created by: The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Museum of the American Indian, and National Park Service
• American of College Nurse-Midwives
• ACNM and the Midwives of Color Committee (MOCC) Celebrate Black History Month! 
• ACNM has published an article from ACNM's Midwives of Color Committee
• Association of State Public Health Nutritionists
• ASPHN Celebrates Black History Month 
• ASPHN has published an online campaign to honor extraordinary African Americans who have have made outstanding contributions to public health and nutrition, including advocates, authors, and U.S. Surgeons General
• Baby-Friendly USA
• Mothers of Memphis: Celebrating Breastfeeding During Black History Month
• BFUSA has published a webpage to highlight the work of ROSE and BSTARS by celebrating the stories of five African American mothers in Memphis, Tennessee, who are helping change this piece of black history in their community.
• The B.L.A.C.K. Course
• Black History Webinar Series
• The B.L.A.C.K. Course's first webinar "The Revolution Will Be Latched" will take place Wednesday, February 19, at several times.
• Black Mama's Matter Alliance
• Black Mothers' Breastfeeding Association
• Breastfeeding Sisters That Are Receiving Support (BSTARS)
• Chocolate Milk Documentary
• Chocolate Milk:The Documentary is a film about the state of breastfeeding in Black America brought to you by The African American Breastfeeding Project.
• HealthConnect One
• Black History 
• Video Message
• HealthConnect One has released a video message from Executive Director, Brenda Blasingame about the importance of celebrating and recognizing Black History Month.
• Indiana Black Breastfeeding Association
• The Law Library of Congress
• African American History Month
• National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC)

• Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE)
• U.S. Census Bureau
• National African-American (Black) History Month: February 2020
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health 
• Black History Month 2020 
• HHS/OMH has released a webpage in honor of Black History Month this February. The webpage includes shareable graphics, resources on health disparities, and information on events during the month. Join OMH on Wednesday, February 19, from 2-3 pm. ET for the #BlackHistoryMonth #LoveYourHeart Twitterchat.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health
• It's Only Natural

• It's Only Natural has information for African-American women and their families about the health benefits of breastfeeding — not just for babies, but for moms too. It includes facts about breastfeeding and practical tips on how to make breastfeeding work while getting the support needed.

USBC Resources 

• Apprenticeships and Health Disparities; A Road Paved with Good Intentions - Hakima Tafunzi Payne
  Executive Director, Uzazi Village
• This session discussed the historical development of apprenticeship as a means of passing professional knowledge and the pitfalls of this approach. It identified how apprenticeships maintain the current professional power structure around acquiring this credential. Apprenticeship often serves as a gatekeeper to who is let in and who is kept out. Finally, it discussed how current preceptors can be conscious and intentional in their role in diversifying their profession.
• Black Breastfeeding: Making HERstory 
• A photo album 
• Breastfeeding Moms' Voices Across America: A Conversation - Ashley Brown, Nayeli Gomez-Burns & Jayme Paddock
• This webinar session featured a panel of speakers—one African-American mom, one Latina mom, and one Native American mom—who shared their breastfeeding journeys.
• DC Breastfeeding Coalition: Defining Cultural Competency - Mudiwah Kadeshe, MSN, RN, CCE, IBCLC, Vice President and Director of Programs/Grant Management. D.C Breastfeeding Coalition 
• This webinar presentation explored the visible and non-visible aspects of culture, how cultural factors influence breastfeeding in the African-American community, and how to expand and sustain the reach of your Coalition. Serving a community of predominantly low-income families of color, with a lack of breastfeeding knowledge and limited support, the DC Breastfeeding Coalition is known for its ability to leverage funds to advance community breastfeeding goals.
• Infant and Young Child Feeding During Emergencies (IYCFE) - Katherine Shealy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Aunchalee Palmquist, Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, UNC-Gillings School of Public Health; Felisha Floyd, National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC); Lourdes Santaballa, Executive Director, IBCLC, IYCFS at Alimentación Segura Infantil (ASI); and Tracy Erickson, Texas Department of Health Services, WIC Program
• Panelists shared an overview of breastfeeding prevalences in PR and USVI relative to other US states and territories, a timeline of the 2017 hurricanes and CDC’s role in the federal hurricane response. This webinar discussed the grim realities on the ground during and in the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria in 2017, and included tangible examples of the vital role of community-driven IYCFE efforts in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. Panelists discussed strategies to protect and support breastfeeding, and promote safe feeding when breastfeeding is not possible. Resources, including assessment tools, culturally congruent communication tools, and key messaging guides were shared to help your coalition/organizational build capacity to coordinate support and be an active stakeholder to protect the health of infants and young children in emergencies. 
• Key Communication Strategies for Maternal and Child Health Organizations - Kimberly Seals Allers, Author. Strategic Communications Consultant. Social Commentator, Director, Maternal and Child Health Communication Collective
• Delivering information to communities that need it most takes targeted communication efforts.  This presentation covered key strategies for improving communication efforts and targeting messaging to affected communities. It covered press releases, social media and community events as communication tools to promote and protect breastfeeding. It walked through completing a basic communication plan focused on improving breastfeeding and maternal child health outcomes through organizational development.
• The Community in CHAMPS - Kimarie Bugg, President/CEO, Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere; Andrea Serano, Program Manager, Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere
• Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere Inc. (ROSE) is among the valuable partners associated with the Communities and Hospital Advancing Maternity Practices (CHAMPS) initiative. This initiative focuses on improving maternal and child health outcomes through promoting Baby-Friendly practices among hospitals in New Orleans, Mississippi, Southern Texas, and Southern Tennessee. ROSE involvement addresses community engagement and empowerment through its Community Transformer breastfeeding peer support program. The Community In CHAMPS session highlighted the achievements accomplished in these area, and additional activities to come! 
• The Role of Leadership in Advancing Equity - Elissa Sloan Perry, CoDirector, Management Assistance Group
• Organizational culture and leadership culture are closely tied, and play a vital role in the success or failure of an organization's mission. In this webinar, Elissa Sloan Perry, CoDirector of Management Assistance Group, discussed how to discern the attributes of white-centric culture. She also spoke about the concepts and principles of shared leadership, and learn how they enhance processes of strategy discernment, development and implementation.
• Racial Equity Learning Community
• USBC has been funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to host this online community as part of an inclusive learning and transformation process for the "First Food" field. The community will build the capacity of the breastfeeding field to apply both an "equity lens" to inform and guide our external strategies and activities, but also an "equity mirror" to examine our internal structures, culture, and policies

• Secure Your Own Mask Before Helping Others: Confronting Implicit Bias within Ourselves - Stacy Davis and Felisha Floyd, National Association of Peer and Professional Lactation Supporters of Color

• This presentation addressed how structural racism is held up by both explicit and implicit bias. Participants learned how structural racism is a system that we all inherited, why it is now our responsibility to change it, and how to perform a critical self-assessment of ourselves to identify some of your implicit biases.
• "Structural Inequities Burden Mothers/Parents, Infants and Families of Color: Support Policies that Reduce Disparities in Health Outcomes"
• A fact sheet created to highlight legislative solutions to reducing health disparities.

NBCC Highlights 

• BSTARS and Beyond: How a Cultural Coalition Helped to Revitalize a State Coalition - Tiana Pyles, BSTARS

• Breastfeeding Sisters That Are Receiving Support (BSTARS) was created out of a need to help decrease the disparity breastfeeding rates for Black Women. Through the energy and partnerships created, a movement to re-energize the Tennessee State Breastfeeding Coalition was started.

• Breastfeeding in Color: The Journey to Deep & Radical Community Support - Aza Nedhari, Mamatoto Village

• This session examined the use of the perinatal health worker model & family-centered team coordination in a home-based program as a vehicle to support lactation education, initiation, & duration in communities of color by providing full-spectrum care that addresses the social determinants of health.

• Narrowing the Great Divide: Reducing Barriers to Entry for POC in the Field of Lactation - Nekisha Killings and Nikki Greenaway, Nikki and Nikki, Lactation Career Consultants
• This presentation discussed an online education tool Nekisha Killings and Nikki Greenaway have developed specifically for aspiring lactation consultants of color.
• Perspectives from organizations involved in Reproductive Health and Justice - Kimarie Bugg, ROSE, Breana Lipscomb, Black Mamas Matter Alliance 
• The presentation provided an overview of the work of Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE) to address breastfeeding disparities and improve health equity among people of color through culturally competent training, education, advocacy, and support, including ROSE's advocacy-oriented “community transformers” training.
• Black Mamas Matter Alliance and the work being done to advance health equity and ensure access to holistic care service delivery for Black mamas. Information focused on the culture shift and policy work of the Alliance and discuss implications for breastfeeding women.