What Destroyed the Black Family Unit?

The Decline of Black Marriage did not just Start!

As a Black millennial, I have been able to see how the Black family unit seems to be declining more and more, and it almost seems like it may never get back to where it was in the 1950's. Now, I could go back before the 1950's, but for this blog, I would like to focus on the 1950's until our current date today in 2024. According to the article African American Marriage Patterns, it states that in the 1950's there were 67% of White women married, and 64% of Black women married. This shows that marriages between Black and White women were almost the same, but the rates of Black women being married started to drop drastically compared to their White counterparts starting in the 60's. Today, every 2/3 Black women will never become married, and the rates surprisingly are not much better for Black men when it comes to marriage as well. Black men are slightly marrying more than Black women, but the issue is that not every Black man will marry a Black women due to interracial marriage being so high in demand now. 

Why did the Black Family Unit Decline so Rapidly?

There is truly nothing new under the sun my grandma use to always say, and she was very accurate when it comes to this world and history. If we look back at when slavery ended, Black families who were able to stay together through the slave trade were already at a great disadvantage, because they were poor, had no resources, nor did they have any land. Unfortunately, a lot of freed slaves had to go back and work for their White masters, just to have food and a place to lay their head. Whereas, White people were able to take all of the money that was made from free labor on behalf of slavery, and then invest it into something lucrative, which allowed them to keep the cycle of generational wealth going. Despite these hardships, Black people found their stride, and did the best they could with the little that they had. In the 50's, Black marriages were booming, but the rates dropped drastically during the 70's when President Nixon declared the War on Drugs, which destroyed Black neighborhoods and families. The government put drugs in our neighborhoods, and then locked up Black men in masses for using the drugs. This then caused a large amount of Black men to go to jail. This is also when jails begin to start booming from Black men being thrown in jail at such high rates, which allowed jails to make a lot of money off of free labor. With this going on, many Black women were left to fend for themselves, but had little to no support. This then lead to Black women being forced to be on welfare, which pretty much caused another major hit to the Black family unit. 

"Man in the House" Rule 

I want to make it very clear that welfare was not originally made for Black people. When it first came out in the 1930's, White women would use it since they were stay home wives without an income, and the husband would work. Not to mention that there was still a large amount of Black people who could not read or write due to discrimination towards teaching Blacks. This means that they would not have known how to apply for it even if they wanted to. During the 70's, Black women did not have a choice but to apply for welfare during the war on drugs, and once the government saw how beneficial it had became to Black families, they created the "Man in the House" rule. This would allow a welfare worker to come to your residence at anytime to see if a man was there. This caused a lot of issues amongst Black husbands and wives that may have still been together, because the man would have to hide and pray that he wasn't found. This caused great humiliation to the Black men. Many families broke apart from just this, and the downfall of the Black family unit has not really recovered sense. 

Ms. Woodard's Final Thoughts?

I wish that I could say that Black marriages would grow again, but with interracial marriages becoming so prevalent, it is a great chance that the rates of Black marriages declining may grow greater. The truth is really that the world is slowly becoming one big melting pot, and it doesn't seem like it is going to end. I think my best advice would just be to embrace it, and ultimately never loose the faith. Statistics can make Black people feel like they are doomed from the start, but there is always a bit of light in any place of darkness. With that mindset, you may just be the one to beat the odds, get married, and be the statistic on the good happening in Black marriages and communities. Stay encouraged!