​Revive. Restore. Reclaim! Those words are a balm. It immediately puts me into the mindset that the power to feed Black babies is, and has always been, in the hands of Black parents, families, and communities. We get to go back and fetch it, grab the history, and take it into the future.
Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka, Kiddada Green, and Kimberly Seals Allers, three giants in the lactation advocacy community, founded Black Breastfeeding Week in 2013. The theme that first year was Black Lives Matter, which is quite poignant as we consider the historical moment where we are right now. Over the last 8 years, the collective celebration of Black breastfeeding during the fourth week of August has grown exponentially. The dates for #BBW20 were August 25 to 31, 2020, and the theme was Revive. Restore. Reclaim!

The second annual Native Breastfeeding Week (NBW) took place from August 9-15, 2020, and it was nothing short of incredible! NBW's efforts to lift the visibility of Indigenous milk experiences produced a groundswell of love, demonstrated the demand to be fully seen, and the visceral reclamation of the sovereignty of first food. If you somehow missed it, visit the Native Breastfeeding Week (NBW) or Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor (IBC) pages and check out the hashtags below on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

"Oh, we do that?" has been my common refrain during my first ten months at USBC.

The breadth and depth of the work done by this eight-woman team is stupefying. A recent "oh, we do that?" was when I realized that USBC founded National Breastfeeding Month (NBM) in 2011 and defines the year's theme. Every year, NBM is an important opportunity to build awareness of and celebrate breastfeeding promotion, protection, and support efforts across the nation. It is also a time to act and promote meaningful policy, system, and environmental changes for all lactating families.