The Tragic History of Forced Wet Nursing in Slavery

The Tragic History of Forced Wet Nursing in Slavery

​The Devaluation of Black Motherhood

​The brutal institution of slavery stripped enslaved Black women of their most fundamental right: the ability to raise and nurture their own children. A particularly cruel manifestation of this was the widespread practice of forced wet nursing.
​The breast milk of enslaved mothers was considered an invaluable commodity by slave-owning families, often morbidly described as “liquid gold.” This sustenance was diverted from Black infants to nourish the slave owners’ children, offering them a significant health advantage.

​A Deadly Deprivation and Its Consequences

​While white infants benefited from this vital nutrition, Black children were often relegated to substandard substitutes, typically cow or goat milk. This early-life nutritional deficit had devastating consequences for the enslaved population.

​High Mortality: The lack of essential antibodies and nutrients from human breast milk contributed significantly to alarmingly high infant and early childhood mortality rates among Black children.

​Disease Susceptibility: Those who survived were often left more vulnerable to diseases, hindering their long-term health and development.

​Serving the Affluent: A Form of Family Planning

​The practice of wet nursing served multiple, calculated purposes for the slave-owning class:

​Facilitating White Progeny

​In affluent society of that era, the concept of securing both an “heir and a spare”—having multiple children to secure the family line—was paramount. By assigning the demanding duties of nursing to an enslaved woman, the white mother was freed from the time and physical demands of breastfeeding. This was a deliberate tactic to enable her to become pregnant again sooner, accelerating the growth of the slave owner’s family.

​An Instrument of Control

​Historical evidence also suggests that some slave owners utilized forced wet nursing as a subtle, yet effective, method of birth control among the enslaved population. The physical demands of continuously nursing another person’s child could suppress an enslaved woman’s fertility, further controlling the reproductive lives of the people they owned.

​A Voice from the Past: The Wet Nurse’s Testimony

​The emotional toll and physical burden of this practice are laid bare in the historical accounts of those who endured it. A powerful description comes from a Black wet nurse in Georgia in 1912, who spoke of her life:

​”I live a treadmill life; and I see my own children only when they happen to see me on the streets when I am out with the children, or when my children come to the ‘yard’ to see me, which isn’t often because my white folks don’t like to see their servants’ children hanging around their premises.”

​This testimony powerfully encapsulates the separation, the constant labor, and the deep, systematic injustice that denied enslaved women the ability to nurture the very children they bore. Their devotion and essential gift of life were relentlessly extracted and redirected to serve the system that oppressed them.