HOW ENSLAVED BLACK WOMEN WERE FORCED TO BREASTFEED WHITE CHILDREN BELONGING TO THEIR MASTERS

Slave trade brought many advantages to western societies. The main duty of a slave was to work on plantations increasing productivity. Slaves often worked long tedious hours in the sun with no pay or reward for their hard labour. Their presence made traders and plantation owners more productive and made their living conditions very harsh. After a while, the duties of slaves extended to domestic work and female slaves became of high value.

In addition to their plantation duties, many female slaves were taken into the homes of their masters to serve their mistresses, cook, clean and wash for them. If a mistress had too many children, the domestic worker was made to help in caring for the child. After a while, female slaves were made to take the place of low-class women paid to breastfeed babies, a practice known as wet nursing.

White mothers avoid breastfeeding, force black women to wetnurse their kids

By the 17th century, wet nursing by slaves had become very popular in Europe. The practice soon reached America through British settlers. The practice was an excuse for many white mothers to avoid breastfeeding with hopes of maintaining their stature and avoiding the "messy" part of motherhood. The act was perceived as a self-demeaning and women who were seen breastfeeding were often thought of as uncultured, poor and often shunned.

The practice became very popular when doctors

of the time did all they could to prove that breastfeeding was an unhealthy act for women. It is believed that doctors were paid huge sums of money to write such reports. The children of slaves grew healthy while many white families lost their children to ill health. This made many westerners force slave mothers to breastfeed their white children so that they could develop better and survive the early months of childhood.

By the 18th century, the trend to force black women to breastfeed had become very popular.

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