African-American family structure

African American family in Florida, 1900
The out of wedlock birth rates by race in the United States from 1940-2014. The rate for African Americans is the purple line. Data is from the National Vital Statistics System Reports published by the CDC National Center for Health Statistics. Note: Prior to 1969, African American illegitimacy was included along with other minority groups as "Non-White."[1]

The family structure of African Americans has long been a matter of national public policy interest.[2] A 1965 report by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, known as The Moynihan Report, examined the link between black poverty and family structure.[2] It hypothesized that the destruction of the black nuclear family structure would hinder further progress toward economic and political equality.[2]

When Moynihan wrote in 1965 on the coming destruction of the black family, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was 25% among black people.[3] In 1991, 68% of black children were born outside of marriage (where 'marriage' is defined with a government-issued license).[4] In 2011, 72% of black babies were born to unmarried mothers,[5][6] while the 2018 National Vital Statistics Report provides a figure of 69.4 percent for this condition.[7]

Among all newlyweds, 18.0% of black Americans in 2015 married non-black spouses.[8] 24% of all black male newlyweds in 2015 married outside their race, compared with 12% of black female newlyweds.[8] 5.5% of black males married white women in 1990.[9]

  1. ^ *Grove, Robert D.; Hetzel, Alice M. (1968). Vital Statistics Rates in the United States 1940-1960 (PDF) (Report). Public Health Service Publication. Vol. 1677. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, U.S. Public Health Service, National Center for Health Statistics. p. 185.
  2. ^ a b c "Moynihan's War on Poverty report". Archived from the original on 2017-01-20. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
  3. ^ Daniel P. Moynihan, The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, Washington, D.C., Office of Policy Planning and Research, U.S. Department of Labor, 1965.
  4. ^ National Review, April 4, 1994, p. 24.
  5. ^ "Blacks struggle with 72 percent unwed mothers rate", Jesse Washington, NBC News, July 11, 2010
  6. ^ "For blacks, the Pyrrhic Victory of the Obama Era, Jason L. Riley, The Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2012
  7. ^ "National Vital Statistics Reports" (PDF). 68 (13). November 27, 2019: 9. Retrieved 1 January 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ a b Pew Research Intermarriage in the U.S. 50 Years After Loving v. Virginia May 18, 2017
  9. ^ Wong, Linda Y. (2003). "Why so only 5.5% of Black Men Marry White Women?". International Economic Review. 44 (3): 803–826. doi:10.1111/1468-2354.T01-1-00090. S2CID 45703289.

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