Black History Is Still Being Made

A Reflection from ​Stephanie Amekuedi

Stephanie Amekuedi
Executive Director, Nourish & Thrive

​Black History Month in the U.S. is the time that is set aside to remember, respect, and honor Black people who have made lasting contributions to a country that has often tried to minimize, displace, and write them out while not recognizing their humanity. Through it all, Black Americans have not only risen above what was intended to break them, they have shown that their innovation and brilliance is not a fluke, but rather the standard.

Black History Month is a time to reflect on brilliance forged under pressure. For me, Black History Month is not only about looking back, it’s about recognizing that history is still unfolding.

And sometimes, it looks like a Black mother latching her baby for the very first time, reclaiming something that was interrupted generations ago.

​In my work advocating for Black lactation, I get the blessing of witnessing Black history in the making every single day. I see it when a mother chooses to breastfeed despite generations of messaging that told her it wasn’t for her. I see it when a father learns how to support lactation and shows up fully.

Let’s be forreal, Black lactation was targeted. Families were separated, and Black bodies were commodified. Our ancestral knowledge was dismissed, medicalized, or erased. Systems were built that disrupted our confidence and access. However, they did not erase our capacity, our wisdom, or our culture.

Lactation has always been part of Black culture. Long before it was politicized and framed as a choice. Black women nourished their babies, supported by community. Breastfeeding was not an individual performance; it was collective care.

When I support Black lactating families through Nourish & Thrive, I am not introducing something new, rather a reclamation.

In our current political climate, where conversations about race, equity, and history are being softened, sanitized, or silenced, there can be a temptation to regress and to make this work smaller. To make it more comfortable. Respectfully, we’re not doing that because supporting Black lactating families is not divisive. It is necessary. Black families deserve to be seen as more than descendants of enslaved people. We are innovators. We are culture-shapers. We are highly educated, deeply intuitive, community-centered, and yes, we ARE excellent parents. The narrative that centers only trauma without honoring triumph is incomplete.

Every time a Black mother meets her feeding goals, that’s history.
Every time a Black family receives culturally competent care, that’s progress.
Every time a provider chooses to listen instead of assume, that’s growth.

For those who are not Black, this is where partnership matters. Listening and supporting Black lactation is solidarity. It looks like funding Black-led organizations and referring families to providers who understand their lived experience. It is challenging deficit-based narratives in professional spaces and protecting equity initiatives even when they become politically inconvenient.

What I get to witness every day is powerful. I get to see Black mothers trust their bodies again. I get to watch generational cycles shift in real time. I get to stand in rooms filled with Black professionals rewriting what leadership in maternal health looks like.

That is Black history.

Not only the marches and the monuments and the names in textbooks, but the quiet resilience of a parent at 2 a.m. The steady rhythm of a baby feeding. The soft confidence of a mother who realizes, “My body was built for this”. That is legacy work. That is cultural preservation. That is resistance wrapped in tenderness.

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Explore the USBC Member Directory to learn about member organizations like Nourish & Thrive. Our membership network includes 150+ organizations that support the USBC mission to drive collaborative efforts for policy and practices that create a landscape of breastfeeding support across the United States. Learn about membership benefits, categories, and how to join us on our Join USBC webpage.