The Decline In Marriage Among African Americans

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Is Marriage for White People?

Author : Ralph Richard Banks
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0452297532
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (522 download)

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Book Synopsis Is Marriage for White People? by : Ralph Richard Banks

Download or read book Is Marriage for White People? written by Ralph Richard Banks and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-09-25 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A distinguished Stanford law professor examines the steep decline in marriage rates among the African American middle class, and offers a paradoxical-nearly incendiary-solution. Black women are three times as likely as white women to never marry. That sobering statistic reflects a broader reality: African Americans are the most unmarried people in our nation, and contrary to public perception the racial gap in marriage is not confined to women or the poor. Black men, particularly the most successful and affluent, are less likely to marry than their white counterparts. College educated black women are twice as likely as their white peers never to marry. Is Marriage for White People? is the first book to illuminate the many facets of the African American marriage decline and its implications for American society. The book explains the social and economic forces that have undermined marriage for African Americans and that shape everyone's lives. It distills the best available research to trace the black marriage decline's far reaching consequences, including the disproportionate likelihood of abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, single parenthood, same sex relationships, polygamous relationships, and celibacy among black women. This book centers on the experiences not of men or of the poor but of those black women who have surged ahead, even as black men have fallen behind. Theirs is a story that has not been told. Empirical evidence documents its social significance, but its meaning emerges through stories drawn from the lives of women across the nation. Is Marriage for White People? frames the stark predicament that millions of black women now face: marry down or marry out. At the core of the inquiry is a paradox substantiated by evidence and experience alike: If more black women married white men, then more black men and women would marry each other. This book not only sits at the intersection of two large and well- established markets-race and marriage-it responds to yearnings that are widespread and deep in American society. The African American marriage decline is a secret in plain view about which people want to know more, intertwining as it does two of the most vexing issues in contemporary society. The fact that the most prominent family in our nation is now an African American couple only intensifies the interest, and the market. A book that entertains as it informs, Is Marriage for White People? will be the definitive guide to one of the most monumental social developments of the past half century.

The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans

Author : M. Belinda Tucker
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610445376
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans by : M. Belinda Tucker

Download or read book The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans written by M. Belinda Tucker and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 1995-07-13 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a time when the American family has undergone dramatic evolution, change among African Americans has been particularly rapid and acute. African Americans now marry later than any other major ethnic group, and while in earlier decades nearly 95 percent of black women eventually married, today 30 percent are expected to remain single. The black divorcee rate has increased nearly five-fold over the last thirty years, and is double the rate of the general population. The result, according to The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans, is a greater share of family responsibilities being borne by women, an increased vulnerability to poverty and violence, and an erosion of community ties. The original, often controversial, research presented in this book links marital decline to a pivotal drop in the pool of marriageable black males. Increased joblessness has robbed many black men of their economic viability, rendering them not only less desirable as mates, but also less inclined to take on the responsibility of marriage. Higher death rates resulting from disease, poor health care, and violent crime, as well as evergrowing incarceration rates, have further depleted the male population. Editors M. Belinda Tucker and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan and the contributors take a hard look at the effects of chronic economic instability and cultural attitudes toward the male role as family provider. Their cogent historical analyses suggest that the influence of external circumstances over marriage preferences stems in large part from the profoundly damaging experience of slavery. This book firmly positions declining marriage within an ominous cycle of economic and social erosion. The authors propose policies for relieving the problems associated the changing marital behavior, focusing on support for single parent families, public education, and increased employment for African American men.

The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans

Author : M. Belinda Tucker
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 9780871548863
Total Pages : 421 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (488 download)

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Book Synopsis The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans by : M. Belinda Tucker

Download or read book The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans written by M. Belinda Tucker and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 1995-06-22 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a time when the American family has undergone dramatic evolution, change among African Americans has been particularly rapid and acute. African Americans now marry later than any other major ethnic group, and while in earlier decades nearly 95 percent of black women eventually married, today 30 percent are expected to remain single. The black divorcee rate has increased nearly five-fold over the last thirty years, and is double the rate of the general population. The result, according to The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans, is a greater share of family responsibilities being borne by women, an increased vulnerability to poverty and violence, and an erosion of community ties. The original, often controversial, research presented in this book links marital decline to a pivotal drop in the pool of marriageable black males. Increased joblessness has robbed many black men of their economic viability, rendering them not only less desirable as mates, but also less inclined to take on the responsibility of marriage. Higher death rates resulting from disease, poor health care, and violent crime, as well as evergrowing incarceration rates, have further depleted the male population. Editors M. Belinda Tucker and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan and the contributors take a hard look at the effects of chronic economic instability and cultural attitudes toward the male role as family provider. Their cogent historical analyses suggest that the influence of external circumstances over marriage preferences stems in large part from the profoundly damaging experience of slavery. This book firmly positions declining marriage within an ominous cycle of economic and social erosion. The authors propose policies for relieving the problems associated the changing marital behavior, focusing on support for single parent families, public education, and increased employment for African American men.

Marriage in Black

Author : Katrina Bell McDonald
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351018167
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis Marriage in Black by : Katrina Bell McDonald

Download or read book Marriage in Black written by Katrina Bell McDonald and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-03-19 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the messages we hear from social scientists, policymakers, and the media, black Americans do in fact get married—and many of these marriages last for decades. Marriage in Black offers a progressive perspective on black marriage that rejects talk of black relationship "pathology" in order to provide an understanding of enduring black marriage that is richly lived. The authors offer an in-depth investigation of details and contexts of black married life, and seek to empower black married couples whose intimate relationships run contrary to common—but often inaccurate—stereotypes. Considering historical influences from Antebellum slavery onward, this book investigates contemporary married life among more than 60 couples born after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Husbands and wives tell their stories, from how they met, to how they decided to marry, to what their life is like five years after the wedding and beyond. Their stories reveal the experiences of the American-born and of black immigrants from Africa or the Caribbean, with explorations of the "ideal" marriage, parenting, finances, work, conflict, the criminal justice system, religion, and race. These couples show us that black family life has richness that belies common stereotypes, with substantial variation in couples’ experiences based on social class, country of origin, gender, religiosity, and family characteristics.

Where Did Our Love Go

Author : Gil Robertson
Publisher : Agate Publishing
ISBN 13 : 157284714X
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (728 download)

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Book Synopsis Where Did Our Love Go by : Gil Robertson

Download or read book Where Did Our Love Go written by Gil Robertson and published by Agate Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-21 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where Did Our Love Go?, an anthology of essays written by many major public figures and celebrities, will explore the substantive issues related to marital problem in the African-American community. From the "my baby's mama" syndrome to the more serious implications of what a generation of single-parent households will mean to future generations, this comprehensive collection will provide an in-depth discourse on the trends and issues that have caused the problematic behaviors within African-American relationships to persist with little sign of relief. The book will consist of a total of 40 essays divided equally into 4 lifestyle categories (single, married, divorced, and widowed), to present a wide cross section of perspectives on this subject. Marriage plays an essential role in maintaining the vitality and character of a community, so it is deeply unsettling for many African Americans to find that the value of this institution has lost its allure. While marriage among African Americans has always fallen below the average of other population segments, the gap today has grown so pronounced that the subject has sparked an intense national dialogue. A 2006 Washington Post article, “Is Marriage for White People,” created waves of controversy on the issue. In 2010, Nightline dedicated an entire broadcast to this growing crisis. The marriage gap in Black America has become such an open secret that it’s now the source of endless bad jokes and prime time reality shows. The statistics even back this up, as according to the U.S. Census, 43.3% of black men and 41.9% of black women in America have never been married, and the rate of decline is nearly twice the national average. Marriage is a rite of passage that is fundamental to every culture, which underscores the tremendous need for an active dialogue to take place that will lay a foundation for discovery. With essays from 50 Cent, Viola Davis, Jabari Asim, Darnell Williams, Faith Evans, Mara Brock Akil, and more, Where Did Our Love Go? will ignite the fight for that conversation to begin.

Black Women, Black Love

Author : Dianne M. Stewart
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781580058087
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (58 download)

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Book Synopsis Black Women, Black Love by : Dianne M. Stewart

Download or read book Black Women, Black Love written by Dianne M. Stewart and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this analysis of social history, examine the complex lineage of America's oppression of Black companionship.According to the 2010 US census, more than seventy percent of Black women in America are unmarried. Black Women, Black Love reveals how four centuries of laws, policies, and customs have created that crisis.Dianne Stewart begins in the colonial era, when slave owners denied Blacks the right to marry, divided families, and, in many cases, raped enslaved women and girls. Later, during Reconstruction and the ensuing decades, violence split up couples again as millions embarked on the Great Migration north, where the welfare system mandated that women remain single in order to receive government support. And no institution has forbidden Black love as effectively as the prison-industrial complex, which removes Black men en masse from the pool of marriageable partners.Prodigiously researched and deeply felt, Black Women, Black Love reveals how white supremacy has systematically broken the heart of Black America, and it proposes strategies for dismantling the structural forces that have plagued Black love and marriage for centuries.

The Negro Family

Author : United States. Department of Labor. Office of Policy Planning and Research
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 84 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The Negro Family by : United States. Department of Labor. Office of Policy Planning and Research

Download or read book The Negro Family written by United States. Department of Labor. Office of Policy Planning and Research and published by . This book was released on 1965 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life and times of the thirty-second President who was reelected four times.

Out of Wedlock

Author : Larry Wu
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610445600
Total Pages : 445 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Out of Wedlock by : Larry Wu

Download or read book Out of Wedlock written by Larry Wu and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2001-07-12 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, one third of all American babies are born to unmarried mothers—a startling statistic that has prompted national concern about the consequences for women, children, and society. Indeed, the debate about welfare and the overhaul of the federal welfare program for single mothers was partially motivated by the desire to reduce out of wedlock births. Although the proportion of births to unwed mothers has stopped climbing for the first time since the 1960s, it has not decreased, and recent trends are too complex to attribute solely to policy interventions. What are these trends and how do they differ across groups? Are they peculiar to the United States, or rooted in more widespread social forces? Do children of unmarried mothers face greater life challenges, and if so what can be done to help them? Out of Wedlock investigates these questions, marshalling sociologists, demographers, and economists to review the state of current research and to provide both empirical information and critical analyses. The conflicting data on nonmarital fertility give rise to a host of vexing theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues, some of which researchers are only beginning to address. Out of Wedlock breaks important new ground, bringing clarity to the data and examining policies that may benefit these particularly vulnerable children.

Fighting for Your African American Marriage

Author : Keith E. Whitfield
Publisher : Jossey-Bass
ISBN 13 : 9780787955519
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (555 download)

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Book Synopsis Fighting for Your African American Marriage by : Keith E. Whitfield

Download or read book Fighting for Your African American Marriage written by Keith E. Whitfield and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 2001-09-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fighting for Your African American Marriage gives you solid solutions to the challenges your marriage faces every day. The book contains a unique perspective and presents the powerful, proven strategies of the highly acclaimed PREP(Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) approach for helping black couples beat the odds and master the skills that can prevent marital distress and divorce.

Unmarried Couples with Children

Author : Paula England
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610441869
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Unmarried Couples with Children by : Paula England

Download or read book Unmarried Couples with Children written by Paula England and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2007-10-17 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, a third of American children are born outside of marriage, up from one child in twenty in the 1950s, and rates are even higher among low-income Americans. Many herald this trend as one of the most troubling of our time. But the decline in marriage does not necessarily signal the demise of the two parent family—over 80 percent of unmarried couples are still romantically involved when their child is born and nearly half are living together. Most claim they plan to marry eventually. Yet half have broken up by their child's third birthday. What keeps some couples together and what tears others apart? After a breakup, how do fathers so often disappear from their children's lives? An intimate portrait of the challenges of partnering and parenting in these families, Unmarried Couples with Children presents a variety of unique findings. Most of the pregnancies were not explicitly planned, but some couples feel having a child is the natural course of a serious relationship. Many of the parents are living with their child plus the mother's child from a previous relationship. When the father also has children from a previous relationship, his visits to see them at their mother's house often cause his current partner to be jealous. Breakups are more often driven by sexual infidelity or conflict than economic problems. After couples break up, many fathers complain they are shut out, especially when the mother has a new partner. For their part, mothers claim to limit dads' access to their children because of their involvement with crime, drugs, or other dangers. For couples living together with their child several years after the birth, marriage remains an aspiration, but something couples are resolutely unwilling to enter without the financial stability they see as a sine qua non of marriage. They also hold marriage to a high relational standard, and not enough emotional attention from their partners is women's number one complaint. Unmarried Couples with Children is a landmark study of the family lives of nearly fifty American children born outside of a marital union at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Based on personal narratives gathered from both mothers and fathers over the first four years of their children's lives, and told partly in the couples' own words, the story begins before the child is conceived, takes the reader through the tumultuous months of pregnancy to the moment of birth, and on through the child's fourth birthday. It captures in rich detail the complex relationship dynamics and powerful social forces that derail the plans of so many unmarried parents. The volume injects some much-needed reality into the national discussion about family values, and reveals that the issues are more complex than our political discourse suggests.

The Marriage-Go-Round

Author : Andrew J. Cherlin
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307272273
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (72 download)

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Book Synopsis The Marriage-Go-Round by : Andrew J. Cherlin

Download or read book The Marriage-Go-Round written by Andrew J. Cherlin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-04-14 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Marriage-Go-Round illuminates the shifting nature of America's most cherished social institution and explains its striking differences from marriage in other Western countries. Andrew J. Cherlin's three decades of study have shown him that marriage in America is a social and political battlefield in a way that it isn’t in other developed countries. Americans marry and divorce more often and have more live-in partners than Europeans, and gay Americans have more interest in legalizing same-sex marriage. The difference comes from Americans’ embrace of two contradictory cultural ideals: marriage, a formal commitment to share one's life with another; and individualism, which emphasizes personal choice and self-development. Religion and law in America reinforce both of these behavioral poles, fueling turmoil in our family life and heated debate in our public life. Cherlin’s incisive diagnosis is an important contribution to the debate and points the way to slowing down the partnership merry-go-round. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Marriage and Caste in America

Author : Kay S. Hymowitz
Publisher : Ivan R. Dee Publisher
ISBN 13 : 9781566637534
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (375 download)

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Book Synopsis Marriage and Caste in America by : Kay S. Hymowitz

Download or read book Marriage and Caste in America written by Kay S. Hymowitz and published by Ivan R. Dee Publisher. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the widening gap in America's social structure, revealing how lower-class children are being separated from their middle-class peers by single parenthood and a lack of strong male role models.

Contemporary Marriage

Author : Kingsley Davis
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610441524
Total Pages : 447 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary Marriage by : Kingsley Davis

Download or read book Contemporary Marriage written by Kingsley Davis and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 1986-08-20 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating symposium is based on an assumption that no longer seems to need justification: that the institution of marriage is today experiencing profound changes. But the nature of those changes—their causes and consequences—is very much in need of explication. The experts contributing to this volume bring a wide range of perspectives—sociological, anthropological, economic, historical, psychological, and legal—to the problem of marriage in modern society. Together these essays help illuminate a form of relationship that is both vulnerable and resilient, biological and social, a reflection of and an influence on other social institutions. Contemporary Marriage begins with an important assessment of the revolution in marital behavior since World War II, tracing trends in marriage age, cohabitation, divorce, and fertility. The focus here is primarily on the United States and on idustrial societies in general. Later chapters provide intriguing case studies of particular countries. There is a recurrent interest in the impact on marriage of modernization itself, but a number of essays probe influences other than industrial development, such as strong cultural and historical patterns or legislation and state control. Beliefs and expectations about marriage are explored, and human sexuality and gender roles are also considered as factors in the nature of marriage. Contemporary Marriage offers a rich spectrum of approaches to a problem of central importance. The volume will reward an equally broad spectrum of readers interested in the meaning and future of marriage in our society.

Becoming Dad

Author : Leonard Pitts, Jr.
Publisher : Agate Publishing
ISBN 13 : 157284602X
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (728 download)

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Book Synopsis Becoming Dad by : Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Download or read book Becoming Dad written by Leonard Pitts, Jr. and published by Agate Publishing. This book was released on 2009-03-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fatherless black family is a problem that grows to bigger proportions every year as generations of black children grow up without an adult male in their homes. As this dire pattern grows worse, what can men do who hope to break it, when there are so few models and so little guidance in their own homes and communities? Where can they learn to “become Dad?” When Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Pitts—who himself grew up with an abusive father whose absences came as a relief—interviewed dozens of men across the country, he found both discouragement and hope, as well as deep insights into his own roles as son and father. An unflinching investigation, both personal and journalistic, of black fatherhood in America, this is the best, most pivotal book on this profoundly important issue.

More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time)

Author : William Julius Wilson
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393073522
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (735 download)

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Book Synopsis More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time) by : William Julius Wilson

Download or read book More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time) written by William Julius Wilson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2010-03-22 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A preeminent sociologist of race explains a groundbreaking new framework for understanding racial inequality, challenging both conservative and liberal dogma. In this timely and provocative contribution to the American discourse on race, William Julius Wilson applies an exciting new analytic framework to three politically fraught social problems: the persistence of the inner-city ghetto, the plight of low-skilled black males, and the fragmentation of the African American family. Though the discussion of racial inequality is typically ideologically polarized. Wilson dares to consider both institutional and cultural factors as causes of the persistence of racial inequality. He reaches the controversial conclusion that while structural and cultural forces are inextricably linked, public policy can only change the racial status quo by reforming the institutions that reinforce it.

African American Psychology

Author : Stacie Craft DeFreitas, PhD
Publisher : Springer Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 0826150063
Total Pages : 362 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (261 download)

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Book Synopsis African American Psychology by : Stacie Craft DeFreitas, PhD

Download or read book African American Psychology written by Stacie Craft DeFreitas, PhD and published by Springer Publishing Company. This book was released on 2019-11-06 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative text is the first to examine the contemporary psychological experience of African Americans through the lens of a positive, strengths-based model. It combats the deficit perspective that has permeated the psychological literature about African Americans by focusing on the strengths that have facilitated their growth and resilience—while also considering existing challenges and struggles. The author examines in depth the major areas of psychological research across family, peer, and romantic relationships, education, work, ethnic-racial socialization and identity, prosocial behavior and civic engagement, and the mental and physical health of African Americans today. With a focus on real life applications, the text includes pedagogical elements introducing topics in Current Events, Interventions in Practice, Individual Issues, African Cultural Values, and Media and Technology. Additional features include learning objectives in each chapter, discussion questions, a closing summary, an extensive trove of additional resources, and PowerPoints and a sample syllabus for instructors. Print version of book includes free, searchable, digital access to the entire contents. Key Features: Serves as the first text to examine African American psychology from a strengths-based perspective Grounded in a lifespan perspective Focuses on ethnic-racial socialization and ethnic-racial identity Addresses mental and physical health Demonstrates how communities have used strength-based techniques to achieve positive outcomes Integrate values common to Western Africa Includes learning objectives, discussion questions, closing summary, and boldfaced key terms Provides PowerPoints and a sample syllabus

Black Marriage

Author : Associate Professor of English and African American Studies Ann DuCille
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781478003526
Total Pages : 170 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Black Marriage by : Associate Professor of English and African American Studies Ann DuCille

Download or read book Black Marriage written by Associate Professor of English and African American Studies Ann DuCille and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-24 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marriage has been a contested term in African American studies. Contributors to this special issue address the subject of "black marriage," broadly conceived and imaginatively considered from different vantage points. Historically, some scholars have maintained that the systematic enslavement of Africans completely undermined and effectively destroyed the institutions of heteropatriarchal marriage and family, while others have insisted that slaves found creative ways to be together, love each other, and build enduring conjugal relationships and family networks in spite of legal prohibitions against marriage, forced separations, and other hardships of the plantation system. Still others have pointed out that not all African Americans were slaves and that free black men and women formed stable marriages, fashioned strong nuclear and extended families, and established thriving black communities in antebellum cities in both the North and the South. Against the backdrop of such scholarship, contributors look back to scholarly, legal, and literary treatments of the marriage question and address current concerns, from Beyoncé's music and marriage to the issues of interracial coupling, marriage equality, and the much discussed decline in African American marriage rates. Contributors: Ann duCille, Oneka LaBennett, Mignon Moore, Kevin Quashie, Renee Romano, Hortense Spillers, Kendall Thomas, Rebecca Wanzo, Patricia Williams