Over the past five decades in the United States, White women have breastfed at higher rates than Black women. While a small but growing body of social historical research has examined racial disparities in breastfeeding over time, empirical research, particularly quantitative research, has focused on single historical snapshots, unintentionally treating the persistent racial disparities in breastfeeding as a static phenomenon, rather than one with distinct social mechanisms at different points in time. Further, few studies on racial disparities in health deconstruct difference both within and across racial groups. But what if we thought about persistent racial disparities instead as discrete trends with distinct social mechanisms at different points in time? In a binary logistic regression of breastfeeding initiation rates from 1973 to 2015 using the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), I found that the persistent racial disparities were actually comprised of three distinct types of changing racial disparities: (1) increases in racial disparities that derive from improvements for Whites not captured by Blacks (1973–1982); (2) decreases in racial disparities that stem from improvements for Whites captured even more strongly by Blacks (1995–2006); and, (3) leveling off of racial disparities (2006–2015). Placing results of this quantitative analysis within the context of public policy and social movement history, I identify three distinct mechanisms that drive the different trends in racial disparities in breastfeeding. This paper contributes to the literature on motherhood, race, and health a more nuanced understanding of the social historical mechanisms that pattern breastfeeding, and more broadly, racial disparities in health.

在过去的五年里，在美国，白人女性的母乳喂养率高于黑人女性。虽然一小部分但不断增长的社会历史研究调查了母乳喂养方面随时间变化的种族差异，但实证研究，特别是定量研究，集中于单一的历史快照，无意中将母乳喂养方面持续存在的种族差异视为一种静态现象，而不是一种随时间变化的现象。不同时期的社会机制不同。此外，很少有关于健康方面种族差异的研究能够解构种族群体内部和种族群体之间的差异。但是，如果我们将持续存在的种族差异视为不同时间点具有不同社会机制的离散趋势呢？在使用全国家庭成长调查 (NSFG) 对 1973 年至 2015 年母乳喂养开始率进行二元逻辑回归时，我发现持续存在的种族差异实际上由三种不同类型的不断变化的种族差异组成：(1) 种族差异的增加源自对未被黑人占领的白人的改进（1973-1982）； (2) 种族差异的减少源于白人的改善，而黑人的改善则更为明显（1995-2006）； (3) 种族差异趋于平稳（2006-2015 年）。将这种定量分析的结果置于公共政策和社会运动历史的背景下，我确定了三种不同的机制，推动了母乳喂养种族差异的不同趋势。本文为有关母性、种族和健康的文献提供了对母乳喂养模式的社会历史机制以及更广泛的健康方面的种族差异的更细致的理解。