black families at the crossroads challenges and prospects

Once again, Leanor Johnson and Robert Staples, who combinemore than sixty years of writing and research as family sociologists,have produced a work that greatly enhances the understandin

Black Families

at the Crossroads

Leanor Boulin Johnson Robert Staples

Foreword by Robert B Hill

Black Families at

the Crossroads Challenges and Prospects

Revised Edition

Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Johnson, Leanor Boulin, date

Black families at the crossroads : Challenges and prospects / Leanor Boulin Johnson, Robert Staples.—Rev ed.

p cm.

Rev ed of: Black families at the crossroads / Robert Staples, Leanor Boulin Johnson 1st ed c1993.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-7879-7222-3 (alk paper)

1 African American families I Staples, Robert

II Staples, Robert.

Black families at the crossroads III Title.

E185.86.S698 2004 306.85’089’96073—dc22 2004010951 Printed in the United States of America

SECOND EDITION

PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Foreword ix

Robert B Hill

7 Marital Patterns and Interactions 177

10 Social Change, Challenges, and Prospects 277

Once again, Leanor Johnson and Robert Staples, who combinemore than sixty years of writing and research as family sociologists,have produced a work that greatly enhances the understanding ofthe complexity and diversity in the functioning of Black familiestoday This revised edition provides rare insights regarding how thecultural values, attitudes, and aspirations of African American fam-ilies interact with structural conditions and social policies to pro-duce a wide range of positive and negative outcomes Thus, thiswork makes many important contributions to our knowledge aboutexternal and internal forces that affect African American families.First and foremost, this is a book about the institution of theBlack family There is a widespread tendency to misrepresent manyworks that concentrate on problems, such as unemployment, pov-erty, and adolescent pregnancy, as studies of Black families whenactually the individual or community is the focus of study It is forthis reason that research in which Black families are the primaryunit of analysis, as in this book, continues to comprise only a tinyfraction of the studies of African Americans.

Second, a historical perspective is incorporated throughout thiswork A major deficiency in most other studies of Black families istheir ahistorical approach Over a century ago, W.E.B Du Bois ar-gued that researchers could not adequately study Black people with-out placing their work within a historical and cultural context

Foreword

ix

Thus, Johnson and Staples begin not with slavery in America butwith family life on the continent of Africa They make a strong casefor understanding how African cultural continuities or adaptationscontribute to the structure and functioning of contemporary AfricanAmerican families This discussion is enriched by the inclusion ofrecent historical reinterpretations on the nature of North Ameri-can slavery.

Third, this book applies a framework for studying Black familiesthat integrates conceptual models from various perspectives.Another major shortcoming of most Black family studies is their adhoc nature and the lack of a unifying theoretical or conceptualapproach The authors adopt as a primary perspective the Afrocen-tric model, which concentrates on the impact of African culturalcontinuities on contemporary African Americans But they alsoincorporate propositions from internal colonialism, historical mate-rialism, assimilation theory, exchange theory, and Black feminist the-ory to support their explanations

Fourth, unlike most other Black family studies, this work placesits primary focus on the internal processes that affect all class strataamong African American families Many researchers think that theyunderstand “the” Black family after studying only the “lower-class”

or “underclass” subgroups The Black working class, middle class, andupper class have been largely ignored in the mainstream family lit-erature It is also unfortunate that because of the undue concentra-tion on single-parent families, there continue to be very few studies

of two-parent families among Blacks Moreover, while there is anobsession with families that break up, there have been few studies ofthe processes that can lead to marriage (such as dating or courtship)

or factors that help to sustain marriages among African Americans.Johnson and Staples have contributed disproportionately to suchprogressive research Since this book is replete with important in-sights about African American families, it is important to underscoresome of them

Their discussion of the Atlantic Creoles (persons of African andEuropean lineage), who came to North America as indentured ser-vants prior to the development of the American slave trade, isenlightening The Dutch West India Company transported theseCreoles, who served as multilingual traders between Africa, Northand South America, and Europe to the New World Most of themobtained their freedom at the end of their period of indenture afterpaying off any debts Their role provides a basis for understandinghow Blacks who remained free throughout the antebellum periodwere able to own property and businesses and establish self-helpinstitutions (such as churches, schools, hospitals, credit unions,insurance companies, banks, orphanages, and homes for the elderly)that contributed to the growth of the Black middle class.

According to conventional wisdom, house slaves were an elitegroup who had easier work than field slaves Yet the authors inform

us that this romanticized view of household work is not accurate Onthe contrary, many studies reveal that most house slaves had to jug-gle multiple tasks and laborious work responsibilities (such as clean-ing, laundering, and cooking) from sunup to long after sundown Forthese reasons, many slaves preferred field work to household duties.This book also reminds us of how immigration policies histori-cally had adverse effects on the economic well-being of Black fami-lies Few Americans realize that Northern firms aggressively recruitedimmigrants from European countries to prevent those jobs from go-ing to large numbers of newly freed blacks whom they feared wouldsoon flood their cities Poor economic conditions in Europe at thetime (such as the potato famines) helped to accelerate the exodus ofmany immigrants Thus, it was only during World Wars I and II,when immigration from Europe was curtailed, that Black men andwomen made their strongest employment and occupational gains

In addition to the impact of European immigration, the authors shedlight on Caribbean Black migrants’ quest for economic stability inAmerica and its implications for native Black Americans

Like other scholars, Johnson and Staples find working wives to bemore important to the economic viability of Black than White fam-ilies, since they contribute more to the total income of their families.But contrary to conventional wisdom, Black husbands have more pos-itive attitudes than White husbands do toward wife employment.And the sense of job competence is greater among Black husbandswith working wives than among White husbands with working wives.

In addition, there is more role flexibility and shared decision making

in Black families with dual earners than among White families withdual earners

Black youth are more likely to engage in premarital sexual ity at earlier ages than White youth But the authors offer social andeconomic explanations for such early sexuality in the place of alle-gations of unbridled biological impulses One factor is the moreprominent role of sexual socialization from same-sex peer groupsamong Black than White youth, especially in low-income families.Overcrowded living conditions are also more likely to expose lower-income young people than youth in middle-income families at ear-lier ages to sexual behavior among adults

activ-It is often asserted that because of the greater prevalence offemale-headed families, Black males reared in those families arelikely to have a higher incidence of homosexuality than Whitemales Yet the authors find no credible research that supports suchbeliefs On the contrary, they cite studies that found that Blackmales are more comfortable around homosexuals than White malesare and do not perceive them as a threat to their manhood More-over, they find no empirical support for the claim that Black womenare more prone to lesbianism than White women due to the dis-proportionate shortage of Black men

This work also strongly challenges the widespread belief thatboys reared in female-headed families are not socialized into maleroles In fact, Black boys have numerous male role models to choosefrom inside and outside their families They develop masculine iden-tities from male relatives (such as nonresident fathers, grandfathers,

uncles, and older brothers) and male nonrelatives (including bors, coaches, ministers, teachers, and tutors) Even in two-parentfamilies, boys may emulate their fathers in some areas and othermen in other aspects More important, Johnson and Staples also citestudies that reveal that mothers can communicate appropriate maleroles to their sons They identify successful men (such as Dr BenCarson and Ralph Bunche) who were reared in families headed byBlack women.

neigh-The authors reject the narrow definitions of Black fatherhoodthat minimize their expressive contributions to children and ofBlack motherhood that marginalize their provider role They con-clude, “Given that Black fathers and mothers deem it appropriate

to interchange or share the provider and expressive roles, the daughter and mother-son relationships are just as important forunderstanding child development and aspirations as are the mother-daughter and father-son relationships.” Thus, they underscore theneed for more studies of the impact of Black fathers on the devel-opment of their daughters and how Black mothers influence thedevelopment of their sons

father-Some feminists contend that singlehood is a viable alternative tomarriage for African Americans Yet Johnson and Staples argue thatmost Blacks perceive their singleness not as a preferred option but as

a status forced on them by certain conditions in American life Theycontend that many Blacks have found alternative lifestyles charac-terized as family substitutes, such as open marriage, communal living,and heterosexual cohabitation, to be less desirable than formal mar-riage However, they readily acknowledge that the unavailability ofsufficient numbers of marriageable males, due to the institutional dec-imation of Black men, continues to be a major obstacle for manyBlacks to achieve their desired goal of marriage

Regarding mate selection, Black men are reported to give erence to light-skinned women, while light-skinned Black womenfind dark-skinned men more desirable, especially since the 1960s.Moreover, cross-racial dating on college campuses is inversely related

pref-to the number of Blacks in the student body Interracial mating creases as the number of Black students increases But while Blackmale–White female relationships continue to comprise the major-ity of Black interracial marriages, marriages involving White malesand Black females are sharply increasing.

de-Although noncustodial Black fathers typically are portrayed asuncaring and uninvolved, many studies have shown that they haveregular contact with their children and make many contributions

to their well-being Moreover, Black fathers are more likely to raisetheir children as single parents than White fathers are Thus, manynonresident Black fathers perform important expressive functionsand provide a broad range of support to their children and families.Although the Black extended family has lost some of its influ-ence, the authors note that it continues to play an important role

in the survival and upward mobility of African American families

It is responsible for transmitting the family’s cultural traditions andhistory, reducing child abuse, providing long-term support to teenmothers, assisting adult single parents during crises, and rearing kinchildren when their biological parents are not able to care for them.While most grandmothers and aunts care for their kin without gov-ernment intervention, there has been a surge of Black children inthe foster care system who are reared by kin due to the onset ofHIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and incarceration of fathers and mothers.Unfortunately, kinship care providers receive lower stipends andfewer social services than nonrelated caregivers

This book has important implications for many family policies.Since the Bush administration has placed a high priority on pro-moting marriage among low-income couples, this work should becarefully reviewed to understand the social, economic, and culturaldynamics of male-female relationships before implementing theseprograms For example, while most low-income Black women prefermarriage, they nevertheless apply a cost-benefit analysis: Do thecosts of marriage outweigh its benefits? Moreover, since many ofthese women have experienced or observed unsatisfying and volatile

marriages, culturally insensitive programs may have little success inconvincing them to get into another relationship.

The future prospects for strengthening African American ilies will be greatly enhanced only when individual and institutionalbarriers to the development of children and families of color areremoved; policies and programs are developed that are specificallytargeted to families rather than individuals; and African Americannational organizations, churches, community-based groups, histor-ically Black colleges and universities, and scholars play major roles

fam-in the plannfam-ing, development, implementation, and evaluation ofthese policies and programs

This outstanding work by Staples and Johnson should be read

by professionals and laypeople in all fields who seek to enhance thewell-being of Black families

Robert B Hill

Washington, D.C.

To my mother, Anna Staples, for her love and devotion to the end of her life.

—Robert Staples

To the memory of my parents, Herbert Fitzgerald Constantine Boulin and Linda Louise Rashford Boulin, who for forty years demonstrated the glory and warmth of love And to my only grandchild, Asia Denise Mims Johnson, who never knew her maternal grandparents but will always feel their love.

—Leanor Boulin Johnson

In the twelve years since the first edition of this book was published,there was an economic boom during the 1990s that brought about

a marked improvement in the lives of Black families The effects ofthose improvements are likely to erode in the economic recession

of the first decade of the twenty-first century Our revised chapterscover mostly the improvements, not the declines, since they are toorecent to be reflected as a pattern in current census data and empir-ical studies Approximately one-fourth of the book has been revised,mostly to take into account newer research studies and more recentcensus and economic data Our basic conceptualization of Blackfamily structure and dynamics remains the same, although the inter-vening twelve years gave us time to reflect on enhancements to theoriginal book

Among the major changes to the first edition are different torical interpretations of the nature of North American slavery andits impact on the family life of the bondsmen In our inclusion ofBlack immigrant families, we describe the neoassimilation model andhow, unlike the classic assimilation model, it is applicable to fami-lies that face both racial barriers and adjustment to different cultures.The largest group of Black immigrants comes from the Caribbeanregion, and their voluntary migration informs our understanding ofthe quest for economic stability among native-born Black Americanfamilies whose ancestors came to North America in chains

his-Preface to the Revised Edition

xvii

Included in the significant changes of the past decade are tural patterns and their impact on aspects of the family Hip-hopmusic, after withstanding two decades of predictions of its immi-nent demise, has now become the dominant music of Americanyouth, with important implications for gender relations and equity.

cul-We examine its form for the tendency to be misogynist and profane.Some might attribute its stylistic traits as contributing to an increase

in liberalized sexual attitudes and behavior To provide a betterunderstanding of America’s sexual liberation in the past decade, welook at some of the most recent research on Black sexuality anddevelop an expanded discussion of the AIDS crisis in lower-incomeBlack communities

Finally, we have considerably revised our final chapter on theproblems and prospects for Black families in the twenty-first century.Despite the progress of the 1990s, significant changes in Black fam-ilies await more positive improvements in the situation of Blackmales Large numbers of Black men cannot enact the conventionalroles of husband and father due to the problems of substance abuse,imprisonment, unemployment, and low skills Black women con-tinue to make progress on the educational, employment, and incomefronts, only to discover that what awaits them is out-of-wedlockbirths, single parenthood, and an unmarried life because there arefew eligible males willing and able to take on the responsibility offorming and maintaining a family This chapter examines those eco-nomic trends

Also in the final chapter, we examine the welfare reform policypassed during the boom years of the 1990s and the flaws of a policythat deprives women and children of a safety net during economicdecline The lack of universal health care, available in most other de-veloped nations, will be one of the greatest challenges for Black fam-ilies in the years ahead, as will be the quest for affordable housing inAmerica’s largest and most expensive cities Those who entered thelabor market during the 1980s and 1990s, Generation X, are projected

to be the first cohort who will have a lower standard of living than

their parents For Blacks who are part of Generation X, this tion is far more likely to be realized In an era when the Americangovernment is running a large deficit, increasing the amount spent

projec-on war and prisprojec-ons while assigning secprojec-ondary funding to social andeducational programs, the challenges are formidable

August 2004 Leonor Boulin Johnson

Scottsdale, Arizona

Robert Staples

San Francisco, California

This collaboration grew out of our awareness that there is no tral source of information on the Afro-American family Antholo-gies on Black families lack the systematic analysis and consistency

cen-of an authored book Other books are too specialized in the topicsdiscussed or neglect the institutional role of Afro-American fami-lies We both have the advantage of having been specifically trained

in the sociology of the family and have taught a variety of classes

on the family at different universities Together, we combine morethan fifty years of teaching about and studying Black American fam-ilies, our primary specialization being in family sociology Because

we had collaborated on a number of projects over the years,belonged to the same professional organizations, and shared a sim-ilar perspective on the Afro-American family, our collaboration onthis project seemed natural

No other institution in American life has been subjected to theintense scrutiny that the Black family has From its beginning on theAmerican continent, where its structure and function have beenshaped by the institution of slavery, to the current era—in which cul-tural, political, and economic changes have left an indelible mark onits structure—the Black family has had to confront the vicissitudes

of life in the United States Given the remarkable changes the Blackfamily has undergone, it is surprising that no macrosociological anal-ysis has been conducted to depict its dynamics in relation to the social

Preface to the First Edition

xxi

forces against which it has struggled Not since the pioneering work of

E Franklin Frazier, whose book The Negro Family in the United States

(1939) traced the evolution of Black families, has there been a workthat viewed this institution in all its dimensions

Whereas there has been a proliferation of books and articles on pects of Black family life, that literature has generally focused on lim-ited segments of the Black population and has therefore sponsored arather narrow perspective of the family as an institution Few of thebooks, for instance, have systematically covered such topics as sexu-ality, marital patterns and interaction, singlehood, the female-headedhousehold, and family life among the aged Although those topicshave been addressed separately, no attempt has been made to discussthem as part of a unified treatment of the Black family

as-In particular, there is a need to describe and interpret the Blackfamily form as it is unfolding in contemporary America Due to socialand cultural changes, the salient aspects of Black family life thatrequire examination are dating and sexuality, marriage and divorce,singlehood, the female-headed household, and the extended family.The statistical data tell us that the majority of Black children areborn out of wedlock, many of them to teenage mothers Yet thereare few data on patterns of dating and sexual norms that could help

to explain the prevalence of such behavior Census data inform usthat a majority of adult Black women are not married We need toknow the particular set of sociocultural forces that are responsiblefor these unprecedented marital patterns among the majority ofBlack Americans, including the developments occurring in Blackmarriages that cause two out of three to end in divorce

A significant trend has been the rise of Black female-headed holds Single-parent families constitute a majority of Black families.Most Black children live in such households Consequently, thenuclear family model, especially for the lower-income groups, is nolonger the dominant family type among Afro-Americans Hence, wehave examined the extended family system to ascertain its role in therearing of children, economic assistance, emotional nurturance of fam-ily members, and so on

house-The primary purpose of this book is to serve as a basic text on theBlack family as an institution To facilitate an understanding of the Black American family, the book presents an analysis of the vari-ous sociocultural forces that shape both the structure and the func-tions of the family as well as the way the family has experiencedchanges We also analyze the larger forces outside the Black commu-nity, such as assimilation and acculturation, unemployment and under-employment, the role of government and public policy, and theimbalance in the gender ratio Since Blacks do not comprise a mono-lithic group, we have attempted to consider class and gender varia-tions in family life-styles Moreover, this book places these variousthemes and orientations within Black family life in a theoretical per-spective that facilitates a better understanding of the family itself Thattheoretical perspective is a political economy model that assumes thatthe contemporary Black family structure is a function of political andeconomic forces that have shaped its existence for several centuries.

A primary method in writing this book has been the tion and synthesis of existing research on Black family life Since

interpreta-1970, more than 1,000 articles and 100 books have been published

on some aspect of the Black family experience To provide a dation for investigating Black families in more recent periods, wehave examined literature prior to 1970 We have also relied on cen-sus and survey data, integrating them into our portrait of Black fam-ilies Finally, in areas where the literature is sparse or nonexistent,

foun-we have used our own research and writings over the past tfoun-wentyyears selectively

Audience

While the book holds to the highest standards of scholarship in terms

of the interpretation of data and research, it is written in a style sible to a wide readership Its target audience is made up of faculty, stu-dents, policy makers, and anyone who works with Black families Wehave tried to meet the needs both of people who have no knowledge

acces-of the Black family and acces-of pracces-ofessionals working with Black families

who require a reference source on the special issues and perspectives

of this group Most important, we hope that this book can be used as ateaching tool in colleges and universities throughout the world.Presently, there is no book available that presents a view of theBlack family as an institution and that surveys the significant changesthat have affected it The primary importance of such a study is thefact that it incorporates in one work the most significant informationabout America’s largest racial minority Because changes in the Blackfamily are often a barometer of future trends in the larger society, astudy of the Black family has implications for the direction of theAmerican family The book will be a valuable resource for scholars ofthe family and social institutions, can be used as a basic text in courses

on the Black family, and will be adoptable as a supplementary text incourses on the family as well as for courses in the helping professions,sociology, anthropology, human development, psychology, ethnicstudies, and home economics

Overview of the Contents

Chapter One is an examination of classic historical theories thatclaim that the institution of slavery destroyed the basis of Black fam-ily life and of neohistorical theories that assert that the family struc-ture of the African slaves was largely untouched by the slave owners.The chapter also looks at the postslavery existence of Black families;for example, it discusses the formation of values related to family life

in the antebellum South

In Chapter Two, we review the theories concerning the nature

of Afro-American family life-styles, beginning with the breaking study of W.E.B Du Bois, continuing with the classic work

ground-of E Franklin Frazier, and including the theories ground-of Daniel PatrickMoynihan, Jessie Bemard, Lee Rainwater, and others Each theory isplaced in a historical context and evaluated for its strengths andweaknesses in enhancing our understanding of the Black family.Chapter Three explores the impact of economic forces on thestructure and stability of the Black family It delineates the lack of

fit between the skills of Blacks and the high-technology economy,

as well as the role of gender in the economics of Black family life.Some statistical data are used to depict marital strain, stress, andstability as a function of the occupational and income levels of hus-bands and wives We show the contribution of economic success tomarital happiness and discuss the stratification of the Black com-munity that has arisen over the last thirty years

Chapter Four is an analysis of the bonding process among youngBlack men and women We first provide historical background, focus-ing on the impact of slavery Then we examine how dating evolvesinto sexual behavior at very young ages and the factors that facilitateyoung people’s entry into or avoidance of premarital sexual behavior

We discuss how sex is defined by males and females, and the gence and divergence of attitudes toward sexuality along gender andclass lines Finally, we review current research on Black sexual val-ues, customs, and practices, within and outside marriage

conver-In Chapter Five, we examine how Blacks enter the world of gles and the life-styles they lead as unmarrieds in a society that places

sin-a strong emphsin-asis on msin-arrisin-age sin-and the fsin-amily A typology of singles isdeveloped as they exist in the Black community The coping styles ofsingles are examined as they confront the need to develop social sup-ports This chapter contains a demographic review of singles, theirmarriage chances, and the norms of mate selection

Chapter Six provides an assessment of gender roles, with lar attention to male dominance in the Black family and community

particu-We describe how male and female roles evolved in Afro-Americanculture in relation to its unique history and circumstances We alsoreview trend data, to assess the gender gap in education, income, andoccupational levels Finally, we offer an analysis of the interactionbetween race and gender, focusing on the problem of sexism in theBlack community

Chapter Seven examines the unique problems encountered in theconjugal relationships of Black Americans We focus on the definition

of husband and wife roles, power relationships, and the sources of stress

in Black marriages The chapter contains a review of the reasons for

marital dissolution and covers the demography of divorced Blacks andthe stable marrieds Also, we discuss the relationship of class and gen-der to marriage, divorce, and remarriage rates.

An assessment of how children are born and reared in the Blackcommunity is the focus of Chapter Eight We discuss how the deci-sion, if consciously done, is made to bear children and the limitsimposed on the size of families We ask who constitutes the primarysocializing agent for Black children and what the role of Blackfathers is We discuss the consequences, for childrearing, of child-birth to teenage mothers and the mother’s multiple roles as mother,wife, and worker We also explore how children fare in householdswith only a single parent

In Chapter Nine, we analyze the roles older generations andmembers of the extended kinship network play in the family Thequestion of how these family members supplement the primary roles

of father and mother is addressed We explore how they represent

a positive force in the family constellation We examine the role ofthe Black church as a source of family support

Our final chapter is a summary of the sociocultural variablesaffecting the Black family, such as racism, government policies,political factors, and economic forces The problems and prospectsare examined, and best- and worst-case scenarios are offered for thefuture of the Black family

September 1992 Robert Staples

San Francisco, California

Leanor Boulin Johnson

Phoenix, Arizona

Within my professional world, I am indebted to numerous mentors,including Harold Christensen, Harriette P McAdoo, and Robert E.Staples, who provided avenues for my creative scholarship during

my early professional development Collecting relevant tation for this revised edition was greatly assisted by the support ofthe African and African American Studies Department at ArizonaState University and its interim director, Patricia M Neff, and thegraduate assistance of Yanyun Yang A special thanks to Tammy L.Henderson for her professional commitment and integrity in assist-ing in the completion of this revised edition Finally, special thanks

documen-to the edidocumen-torial staff at Jossey-Bass for their patience and tive comments

construc-Within my family, I thank the significant individuals who havetouched my life In my tender years, I was endowed with an abundance

of love, support, and spirituality For this rich inheritance, I give thanks

to my circle of childhood family: Linda and Herbert Boulin (my ents), Yvonne Maudlin Washington and Homer Linton Boulin (mysiblings), uncles, aunts, cousins, adopted kin, and my Black churchcommunity Anyone who has tried to balance family life with obtain-ing an academic degree or employment knows the value of a support-ive spouse Thank you, Bill, for your steadfast confidence in my abilityand the sacrifices you made to support my professional goals Your ownachievements and dedication as a physician and parent continue to

par-Acknowledgments

xxvii

inspire me to maintain the highest professional and family integrity.Even spouses supporting each other cannot always meet the demands

of work and family Thus, I am deeply grateful to my mother-in-law,Margaret B Duncan, who on countless occasions stepped in so that

my sons could attend high school band practice or football games,religious services, and club meetings and who, while I was working onthe revised edition, gave me strength by providing home-cookedmeals Finally, I thank our three sons, Linton Eugene, DonovanOmari, and Mark Louis; our granddaughter, Asia Denise; and mynephews and nieces, Khari, Jabari, Hakeem, Shomari, Wesley, Xavier,Vallamar, Michelle, and Sonia who continue to do all the wonderfulthings they do to enrich my life and who provide me with challeng-ing pragmatic experiences in family studies

—L.B.J

Professionally, I am indebted to Patricia Bell-Scott of the University

of Georgia, Robert Hall of Northeastern University, Erma Lawson ofthe University of Kentucky, and Patricia Wilson of Arizona State Uni-versity, who read and critiqued the first draft of our manuscript Also,

I am grateful to Paul Glick of Arizona State University and mous reviewers, who provided feedback on some of the chapters Forthe first edition, I thank the support staff in our departments—Kath-leen McClung, Sally Maeth, and Elizabeth Sherman—for typing, edit-ing, and bibliographical services I also wish to acknowledge thesupport of the Department of Family Studies and African and AfricanAmerican Studies at Arizona State University and the Graduate Pro-gram in Sociology at the University of California, San Francisco,which approved phone calls, faxing, and express mail during a period

anony-of severe fiscal cutbacks For the revised edition, I give special thanks

to Sharon Solorio, who consistently provided electronic file transfersbetween the authors Also, appreciation is given to Tammy Hender-son, who against many odds assisted in bringing this second edition tocompletion Without these basic services, a joint effort would havemoved at a much slower pace

In our collaborative effort, Leanor Boulin Johnson and I thankeach other for mutual support and trust throughout the challengingprocess of putting a book together While we are grateful to the peo-ple just mentioned for their help, the final responsibility for thebook rests with us.

—R S

As an institution, the Black family continues to be a subject ofintense and controversial public concern This interest is gen-erated in part by the lack of consensus on what its form and func-tion should be The controversy is heightened by the way scholarshave depicted the Black family in the past and by an ongoing de-bate over how the family history of Blacks relates to their currentsituation Before examining developments in earlier periods, it isnecessary to place some parameters around this historical review.The areas of interest are the precolonial era in sub-Saharan Africa,slavery in general, and the various views on the impact of slavery

on Black family life

The Preslavery Period

There are several historical periods of interest in tracing the ground of Black family life in the United States One era is the pre-colonial period on the African continent, where the Black Americanpopulation originated The basis of African family life was the kin-ship group, which was bound together by blood ties and the com-mon interest of corporate functions Within each village, there wereelaborate legal codes and court systems that regulated the maritaland family behavior of individual members The philosophical basis

back-History as Fact and Fiction

1

of the family was one of humanitarianism, mutual aid, and nity participation Although no two tribes in Africa were the same,the continent was generally humane in its treatment of the individ-ual and the creation of meaningful roles for each person (Kayongo-Male and Onyango, 1984).

commu-In African communities, marriage was not just a matter betweenindividuals but the concern of all family members A woman, for in-stance, was not just a man’s wife but “the wife of the family.” As a re-sult of this community control of marriages, the dissolution of amarriage was a drastic action and used only as a last resort Most mar-riages involved the payment of a bride-price by the husband’s family

to compensate her family for the loss of her services and to guaranteeher good treatment This was not the purchase of a woman who be-came her husband’s property After marriage, a woman remained amember of her own family, since they retained a sincere interest inher well-being (Sudarkasa, 1981)

Regardless of the meaningful role of women in precolonialAfrica, the authority pattern in the family was patriarchal This malecontrol in the family was based not so much on benign dominance

as on the reverence attached to his role as the protector and providerfor the family His role was to perform the heavy manual labor and

to make decisions for the family Only if he successfully carried outthese roles would respect and admiration be accorded him On cer-tain days, the wife and children would bestow as much respect onhim as subjects would a king If it was a fête day, his sons-in-law anddaughters would be there to present him with some small gifts Theywould pay him reverence, bring him a pipe, and then go into anotherroom, where they all ate together with their mother (Frazier, 1939).Children in African societies were considered symbols of the con-tinuity of life During their formative years, they enjoyed a carefreelife Until they reached the age of nine or ten, they had no responsi-bilities Afterward, they began to learn their role requirements and re-sponsibilities to the tribe The boys would build small huts and huntfierce game Girls played house and cared for their “babies” (often a

younger sister) When they reached the age of fifteen, they were sidered adults and would soon begin families of their own (Sudarkasa,1981) The structure and function of the Black family was to changeradically under the system of slavery What did not change, however,was the importance of the family to African peoples in the NewWorld While the nature of marriage and family patterns was eventu-ally taken from the control of the kinship group, the family neverthe-less managed to sustain individuals in the face of the many destructiveforces they encountered in American society.

con-The Causes and Nature of North American Slavery

The first two hundred years of slavery differed significantly from thefinal century In the early centuries, few slaves grew cotton, resided

in the Deep South, and embraced Christianity Among the early rivals were the Atlantic Creoles, people of African and European lin-eage who were transported to the new world by the Dutch West IndiaCompany Middlemen in trade between Africa, North and SouthAmerica, and Europe, they spoke not only numerous European andAfrican languages but the common language of trade: Creole Theirprevious interactions with Europeans meant that they understoodtheir religion, complex patron-client relations, and general way oflife Thus, rather than the transatlantic journey eroding their skills

ar-as cultural negotiators, merchants, sailors, and trappers, it merelytransported them to a somewhat familiar new world (Berlin, 2003).With few exceptions, these Blacks entered the New World asunfree indentured servants, a status that many Whites shared In-dentured servants were people who had their passage paid to thiscontinent and were contractually obligated to work for a specifiedperiod of time, usually three to seven years, for the people who paidfor their passage Once their debts were paid, the indentured ser-vants were free to pursue their own interests According to histori-ans of this period, race played a significant but not central role inthe social relations between White and Black indentured servants

They worked together as equals and at times formed coalitions toresist the policies and cruel practices of wealthy landowners (Berlin,2003; Hine, Hine, and Harrold, 2004; J H Franklin, 1987).

In the absence of both a well-defined racial order and a profit staple crop with its demand for mass human labor, seventeenth-century free and bonded Creoles in Dutch New Netherland, EnglishChesapeake, and Spanish Florida traded their knowledge and laborfor favors unknown to nineteenth-century slaves Caring only forshort-term profits, companies such as the Dutch West India allowedits slaves to live and work independently in return for a stipulatedamount of labor and annual tribute Slaves used this marginal free-dom to master the Dutch cultural ways, trade freely, accumulateproperty, convert to Dutch Reformed Christianity, and, most im-portant, establish families In New Amsterdam (present-day NewYork), twenty-five Black couples took their vows in the Dutch Re-formed Church, and later their children received baptism in thechurch Although by the mid-seventeenth century a fifth of Blacks

high-in New Amsterdam, St Augusthigh-ine, and Virghigh-inia’s Eastern Shoregained their freedom, escaping servitude was difficult The Dutchcompany was willing to liberate the elderly, considered a liability,but not their children Both Blacks and Whites protested this half-free status with partial success By the middle of the seventeenthcentury, Blacks in New Netherland participated, however unequally,

in nearly all aspects of life In addition to marrying and baptizing inthe established church, they created institutional family patternsthat served their unique need; foremost among them were legaladoption agencies for orphaned Black children (Berlin, 2003)

In Florida, the Creole society acquired freedom for their families

by joining the Spanish militia Threatened by expansion of Englishsettlement in the Carolinas, the Spanish created alliances with theirown slaves Black militia then raided their former Carolina planta-tions, freeing family members and friends The Spanish Crown pro-vided freedom to all slave fugitives who converted to Catholicism

and rewarded those Creoles who showed exemplary valor resistingthe English Membership in both the church and militia provided thecatalyst for connecting Floridian Black people to each other and tothe larger community Pulling the lever of patronage, they skillfullyafforded privileges for themselves and their families Through thechurch, they sanctified their marriages, baptized their children, andselected Black and White godparents from the congregation Theirimbalanced gender ratio resulted in marriages with American Indi-ans and newly arriving slaves from Mexico, Cuba, and Spain Afternearly one hundred years, the first generation of Floridian Blacks andtheir children (the Charter generation) was far more incorporatedinto the life of mainland society than were the Northern colonies(Berlin, 2003).

The Atlantic Creoles, Black indentured servants, and mulatto spring of slaveholders numbered about half a million in the 1860s Be-cause they had opportunities for education, owning property, andskilled occupations, their family life was quite stable They representthe early development of a Black middle class (Berry and Blassingame,1982)

off-Atlantic Creoles’ ability to trade freely, secure freedom, acquiremodest prosperity, gain access to courts, and serve in organized mili-tia was eroded with the discovery of products that could be sold in-ternationally for high profits—sugar, rice, tobacco, and later cotton.This economic shift triggered the massive influx of slaves, strict slavecodes, and dehumanizing racial ideologies to justify slave status.(Berlin, 1998, 2003; Graves, 2001) Taken from the deep interiors ofAfrica, the later generations of transported slaves were linguisticallyisolated and deskilled by the process of enslavement, and they sufferedenormous psychological and physical degradation The depth of theirdehumanization is best understood in the light of the flourishing civ-ilization they left behind—societies with mores and folkways for reg-ulating the behavior of their members, communication systems, and

an extensive network of trade relations throughout the African

con-tinent This human tragedy was inconsequential to slave magnates,whose insatiable appetite for greater profit could be quenched onlywith a large-scale, inexpensive human labor force.

Slavery, despite the problems it posed in terms of regulating man labor in a coercive relationship, was the most profitable source

hu-of labor available There was little concern, in the beginning hu-of theslave system, for the racial composition of the enslaved group Sub-ordination and control was valued more than race In the West In-dies, Atlantic Creoles, for example, were rejected as too savvy inEuropean ways to be trusted working among the mass number ofslaves needed to cultivate the profitable sugar plantations WhereasNorth America had not yet developed a competitive slave economy,would-be slaveholders snapped up these Creoles to work alongsideWhites and American Indians in building forts, hunting, trapping,tending animals and fields, and transporting merchandise

However, there were certain difficulties surrounding the use ofthe non-Creole groups Whites, being part of the same racial group,easily escaped and avoided detection by assimilating into the non-slave society They also disappeared into the frontiers of the virginwestern territory, where their recovery was improbable Enslaved Na-tive Americans, decimated by European diseases and overwork, weresoon found unsuitable Despite the thousands captured, AmericanIndians put up enough formidable resistance and could retreat whennecessary into familiar territory (Berlin, 1998, 2003; Patterson,1982) In the end, Black labor was ideal Blacks were easily identifi-able and unfamiliar with the terrain An unregulated transatlanticslave trade provided an endless source of labor, which allowed mas-ters to replace slaves who became useless from overwork Moreover,enslaved Africans brought with them the essential skills and knowl-edge needed in growing tobacco and rice

In Africa, rice was largely a women’s crop In disregarding thisWest African gender role tradition, planters reduced their profitmargin In slavery, male slaves with lesser knowledge of the processwere assigned to milling rice A task that took less than an hour

when performed by African women prior to the transatlantic slavement demanded as many as six hours of arduous labor by slavemen This ignorance of female knowledge systems also resulted inslaves’ having to adjust to new symbols of male-female propriety androle relations (Morgan, 2001).

en-Although slavery was not new to humankind or a North can invention, the enslavement of Africans and their brutal trans-portation to this country marked a new chapter in the history of man’sinhumanity to man Previous slave systems were not characterized bydistinctions of race (Graves, 2001; Snowden, 1970) As Brown (1949,

Ameri-p 34) says of the slave system in Greece, “The slave populations wereenormous, but the slave and the master in Greece were commonly ofthe same race and there was no occasion to associate any given phys-ical type with the slave status.” Similarly, in Rome, slaves were not dif-ferentiated from free men in their external appearance Authorities

on the subject have noted that any citizen might conceivably become

a slave, and almost any slave might become a citizen In Europe andAfrica, losing in battle often resulted in those defeated becoming en-slaved (Graves, 2001; Snowden, 1970)

Basing slavery status on race made American slavery distinct Aracial ideology categorizing Africans as a subhuman race providedthe justification for exploiting this ideal source of human labor Theblocked mobility of the nineteenth-century slaves was also peculiar

to the United States To illustrate this point, slavery in the UnitedStates is frequently compared to the same institution in South Amer-ica According to this view, the Spanish slave code and the Catholicchurch in Latin America provided safeguards for the slaves and theirfamilies and emphasized their worth as human beings These twoforces supposedly led to the encouragement of manumission and sta-ble marriage among free and slave Blacks (Patterson, 1982) Slaveslost their freedom but retained the right to regain it In the UnitedStates, Blacks were consigned to a slave status from birth to grave(Elkins, 1968) The American slave system abrogated all rights theAfricans had as human beings Slaveholders could not be punished

for the way they treated their slaves; families were broken up by thesale of one of their members; there was no legal marriage for slaves;the children of a slave mother were automatically slaves; and the sta-tus of a slave was a position from which no mobility was permitted(Patterson, 1982).

But this polarity of the two slave systems in North and SouthAmerica does not consistently hold up under close examination.There was considerable variation among the Latin American soci-eties in their use and treatment of slaves In some areas of LatinAmerica, there was very humane treatment of slaves, and in others,brutal treatment As for the Spanish slave code, it was not only un-enforced, but it was never promulgated in any of the SpanishCaribbean colonies Moreover, some of the measures encouragingmarriage among the slaves in South America were designed to holdthe slaves to the plantation estates with family ties (Hall, 1970).Likewise, in North America, the slave-master relationship took ondifferent forms and meanings over time and from place to place, de-pending on the centrality of slave labor to the economic goals ofthe slaveholder, pressures from competitors, the heightened anxi-ety generated by domestic and foreign slave revolts, and the effect

of democratic and religious revolutions (Berlin, 1998) If not sistent in practice, there was one undeniable stark contrast: SouthAmerica had humane secular and sacred codes, which North Amer-ica lacked Regardless of system, slavery was restrictive, and theslaves’ welfare was secondary to economic gain Yet with their mod-icum of freedom, slaves nevertheless managed to build a commu-nity and family life (Berlin, 2003)

con-The Slave Family

Slavery had its greatest impact on the family life of the Africansbrought to the United States Most of the slaves who came in thebeginning were males The Black female population was not equal

to the number of males until 1830 As a result, the frequency of