There were rules for wet-nursing a child that an African American woman cared for during the days of slavery

There were rules for wet-nursing a child that an African American woman cared for during the days of slavery; even before the Jim Crow era the “Whites Only” sign applied even to the slave woman’s breast. One breast could be used to feed the white child the other for nursing her own. Punishment could be swift and severe if a wet nurse ever allowed a black child, and a white child, to suckle from the same breast.