Join us in New Orleans, August 26th – 29th, 2026 where ROSE and ROBE will gather Black and Indigenous lactation support providers and birth workers with clinicians, parents, fathers, elders, scholars, researchers, policymakers, allies and community partners for our 15th Breastfeeding & Birth Justice Summit: “The 92%: Breastfeeding, Power & Birth Justice.” Anchored in the reality that 92% of Black women voters showed up at the polls and did the right thing, this convening centers the political and embodied power of Black women and the crucial role of Black fathers and partners whose votes, voices, and vital labor have long nourished this nation, often without recognition, safety, or justice. All are welcome who are ready to learn, listen, share and act.
Drawing on the historical lens of the analysis in The Politics of Breastfeeding, the 1619 Project, and the truths exposed in Medical Apartheid, and we will trace the throughline from plantation wet nurses and coerced lactation to modern-day hospital policies, father exclusion in perinatal care, formula marketing, and surveillance of Black families. Together, we will examine how structural racism, reproductive control, and medical exploitation continue to shape who gets to birth, breastfeed, parent, and protect their families with dignity, and who is denied that right.
Grounded in community wisdom and lived experience, this summit is more than a conference; it is a strategy room. Participants will identify and uplift community-led models that center Black and Indigenous parents and babies, intentionally engage fathers and partners, and shift clinical and public health practice. Several dedicated sessions will focus on fatherhood highlighting ROBE’s work, father-focused breastfeeding and safe-sleep education, and strategies to bring fathers from the margins into the heart of perinatal decision-making. Through plenaries, story circles, fatherhood tracks and action planning, we will leave New Orleans with concrete tools, shared language, and a sharper roadmap to advance breastfeeding equity, father-inclusive care, and Birth Justice across the South and the nation.