Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2017 statistics, Black mothers’ breastfeeding initiation rate was 74 percent compared to White mothers’ rate of 87 percent; Whereas breastfeeding directly impacts the health and wellness of infants and the mothers who care for them; Whereas Black mothers have reported greater barriers to breastfeeding compared to their counterparts, including pain or discomfort while breastfeeding, concerns about breastfeeding in public, insufficient availability of promotional and educational efforts, and the interference of breastfeeding with paid employment and other activities; Whereas some Black mothers have also reported lack of a social support system for continued breastfeeding; Whereas, in North Carolina, only 66 percent of Black mothers breastfed in 2013, 2014, and 2015 versus 80 percent of White mothers who breastfed during the same period; Whereas low breastfeeding initiation rates directly correlate to high infant mortality rates; Whereas Black babies have two times higher infant mortality rates than White babies in North Carolina; Whereas babies who are exclusively breastfed for 6 months and continue on through the first year could prevent 2,268 maternal deaths and 626 infant deaths annually across the United States; Whereas Black children are at a greater risk for childhood disease, and the inability to exclusively breastfeed for the recommended six months has been attributed to twice as many deaths and three times as many childhood diseases in Black infants as compared to White infants; Whereas one in four mothers in the United States return to work within ten days of giving birth; Whereas 60 percent of working mothers in the United States who are breastfeeding express breast milk in inadequate and unsanitary places on the job; Whereas COVID–19 has tragically exposed the unfortunate impact of racial inequities in health for Black communities