Black Breastfeeding | Breastfeeding...It's a Beautiful Thing

Send your breastfeeding photos to me at info (at) mommytoo (dot) com.

Breastfeeding in Public: September 1943
Thursday, June 28, 2007

If you visit my blog often enough, you know how much I love to search the Library of Congress digital photo collections. I spend tons of time poring through batches and batches of collections looking for historical breastfeeding pictures, sometimes until my eyes are weary and I have given up for the day . But look what I stumbled upon this morning.

I'd like to introduce you to a mother who is traveling from Louisville, Kentucky to Memphis, Tennessee on a Greyhound bus. Here, she is waiting in the Chattanooga bus terminal and breastfeeding in public in September 1943.

This is a great picture, right? Well, it made me ask a very important question: What if this mother is in a corner of the terminal where there are women around, but no men? And then I found this photo. Notice the men in the picture on the far left and the far right.

It's no wonder these pictures were taken by a woman, Esther Bubley, a pioneer in female photojournalism, who chronicled people's daily lives for the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection (FSA-OWI).

See more shots of this mother breastfeeding in public.

Labels: breastfeeding history, breastfeeding in public

posted by Jennifer James @ 10:33 AM,

9 Comments:

At June 28, 2007 10:43 AM, Leah said...: Wow, those are really amazing pictures! Thanks for searching for stuff like that. :)
At June 28, 2007 1:31 PM, Eilat said...: Those pictures are great. The first thing I thought when I saw them was: "That's what it looks like when a woman breastfeeds in public". It looks like nothing, you know what I mean? There's a little bit of flesh and a baby. *This* is the kind of thing that people flip out about, and banish women from all sorts of places. I love this picture because it shows breastfeeding in public as this totally normal act. How can anyone find that offensive?

Thanks!
At June 28, 2007 8:08 PM, Fat Lady said...: I LOVE this picture. What I particularly enjoy is the fact that most provocative woman is not the breastfeeding mother but the woman to the right of her, who isn't showing any breast. It's all hair and attitude and LEGS. You only see a little of her legs, but you can tell by the way they're positioned that this was the body part to show off in 1943. Breasts are mundane, utilitarian - and not worth notice. I think the people of that time would find it funny that we're all so amazed that breastfeeding in public didn't really turn heads back then.
At June 28, 2007 11:23 PM, amygeekgrl said...: so cool to see pictures like that. :) thanks for sharing them.
At June 29, 2007 11:20 PM, Callista said...: Great blog! I'm not Black but have noticed that most breastfeeding women nowadays are white. Or at least the ones I've seen. I love the pictures you've been finding, keep it up! I've bookmarked you for furthur reading.
At July 3, 2007 9:26 AM, dara said...: I was really nervous the first time I breastfed my daughter in public. Luckily, I haven't encountered any negativity the few times I've done it. It's funny b/c I have no problem feeding my daughter in the company of others, but it seems as if other people get embarrassed about it.
At July 3, 2007 6:17 PM, Anna said...: Great photo, hope blogs like yours and Amy's encourage a return to attitudes like that--just breastfeeding in public because that's what we do!
At October 7, 2007 1:04 AM, Azúcar said...: I LOVE this picture! My father was born in September of '43. My grandmother stood up to the doctors who insisted she formula feed. She told them, "God made me this way, he made breasts filled with milk, are you calling God a liar?" She went on to nurse all her children into toddlerhood.

Thanks for doing the digging, I appreciate it. I can't wait to read and see more.
At December 30, 2007 8:49 AM, Natalie said...: I love this picture! I'm glad I stumbled across your blog- I'll be visiting often. Thanks for encouraging Moms to breastfeed!