When the Fultz sisters were born in 1946, they became instant celebrities. They were the first recorded identical quadruplets in the world! And though they were perfectly healthy, what ultimately happened to them is downright sickening.
The white doctor who delivered them lied to their father and took advantage of their mother’s inability to hear or speak. He named the girls after his own family members, and injected the girls with dangerously high levels of vitamin C!
Then he did something that still traumatizes Black mothers today.
Acting as the girls’ legal representative, he cut deals with baby formula companies thirsty to reach Black women. Only a few generations removed from serving as wet nurses for white women while their own children suffered, Black women were taught to believe they were “bad mothers” if they DIDN’T use baby formula.
But it gets worse.
Once Black women became major consumers of formula, the companies flipped the script. They used aggressive marketing depicting Black women who used baby formula as lazy or “unnatural” mothers!
Today, Black women face criticism no matter what they do, but formula shortages affect Black parents the hardest.
Black women face countless challenges in caring for their children. Black mothers are SURVIVORS in a system that works against them!