Table Of ContentF O U R T H E D I T I O N
Black
Families
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This book is dedicated to the great historian John Hope Franklin, Ph.D.
His writings, actions, and speeches have helped formulate the experiences of Black
families.
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F O U R T H E D I T I O N
Black
Families
Harriette Pipes McAdooo
Michigan State University
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Copyright © 2007 by Sage Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
For information:
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Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Black families / Harriette Pipes McAdoo, editor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-4129-3637-3 or 978-1-4129-3637-8 (cloth) — ISBN 1-4129-3638-1 or 978-1-4129-3638-5 (pbk.)
1. African American families. 2. African Americans—Social conditions.3. Family—United States. I. McAdoo, Harriette Pipes.
II. Title. E185.86.B525 2007
306.85089′96073—dc22
2006007435
Printed on acid-free paper
06 07 08 09 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Acquiring Editor: Cheri Dellelo
Production Editor:Libby Larson
Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.
Proofreader: Scott Oney
Indexer: Kathleen Paparchontis
Cover Designer: Bryan Fishman
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Contents
Preface to the Fourth Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Historical Conceptualizations of Black Families
1. African American Families: A Historical Note
John Hope Franklin
2. The Nguzo Saba and the Black Family: Principles and Practices of Well-Being and
Flourishing
Maulana Karenga and Tiamoyo Karenga
3. Interpreting the African Heritage in African American Family Organization
Niara Sudarkasa
Part II. Theoretical Conceptualizations of African American Families
4. Conceptualizations and Research of African American Family Life in the United States:
Some Thoughts
Jualynne Elizabeth Dodson
5. African American Family Life: An Instrument of Culture
Wade W. Nobles
6. African American Education: A Cultural-Ecological Perspective
John U. Ogbu
Part III. Spirituality and Religion in Black Families
7. Religion in African American Families
Harriette Pipes McAdoo
8. Old-Time Religion: Benches Can’t Say “Amen”
William Harrison Pipes
9. Sources of Racial Socialization: Theological Orientation of African American Churches
and Parents
Pamela P. Martin and Harriette Pipes McAdoo
10. Death in the Family: Historical Descriptions and Funerary Display of African American
Families
LaTrese Evette Adkins
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Part IV. Family Patterns
11. African American Demographic Images
Harriette Pipes McAdoo
12. African American Female-Headed Households: Some Neglected Dimensions
Niara Sudarkasa
13. The Significant Other: Type and Mode of Influence in the Lives of Black Families
Wilhelmina Manns
Part V. Socialization Within African American Families
14. Parenting of Young Children in Black Families: A Historical Note
Marie Ferguson Peters
15. The Roles of African American Fathers in the Socialization of Their Children
Jonathan N. Livingston and John L. McAdoo
16. Family First, Then the World: The “Know-It-All” Aunt and Her Three Nephews
Darlene Clark Hine
17. Kin KeepersSM: Breast Cancer Prevention for African American Women
Karen Patricia Williams
18. Family Therapy: A Help-Seeking Option Among Middle-Class African Americans
Monica Mouton Sanders
Part VI. African American Gender Relations
19. An Overview of Race and Marital Status
Robert Staples
20. In Search of Love and Commitment: Dealing With the Challenging Odds of Finding
Romance
Audrey B. Chapman
21. Practices and Attitudes Toward Contraception in the Black Community
Algea Othella Hale
Part VII. Family Policies and Advocacy
22. A Portrait of Inequality
Marian Wright Edelman
23. The Impact of Welfare Reform on Black Families
Robert B. Hill
Index
About the Editor
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About the Contributors
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Preface to the Fourth Edition
S
ince the first edition of Black Families in 1981, many of the contributors to the book have
spent 25 years presenting images of Black families to scholars, students, and laypersons.
Although some of those whose work appears here have passed on, and some have joined us for
the first time, those of us who have produced this fourth edition have joined together to become
as family. All of these have formed a circle of writers who have become friends as well as
contributors to Black Families.
We are many years older and, we hope, wiser than we were at the time of the first edition.
During the years in between, babies have been born, marriages have ended, spouses have passed,
children have married, Ph.D. degrees have been completed, tenure and professorships have been
earned, important awards have been received, jobs have ended, and important professional
positions have been assumed. These significant life changes are often reflected in the work of the
authors.
There has been the loss to us of our peers: William Harrison Pipes, John Lewis McAdoo,
Marie Ferguson Peters, and John Ogbu.
There also has been a great infusion of new authors: Darlene Clark Hine, Maulana Karenga
and Tiamoyo Karenga, Pamela Martin, LaTrese Adkins, Jonathan Livingston, Karen Williams,
and Monica Mouton Sanders. The work of these scholars who join us in exploring our Black
families is described below.
Maulana Karenga and Tiamoyo Karenga, one of the most influential couples in America
today, founded Kwanzaa over 45 years ago. Tens of thousands of Americans celebrate the holiday
every year, and it has spread all over the world. Their chapter goes into the value of extended
families as they detail the components of Kwanzaa.
Darlene Clark Hine is considered one of the greatest historians in this country. Her work on
Black women has been celebrated throughout the world of historians. She shares with us an
intimate glimpse of her extended family.
Pamela Martin and I explore how the Black churches are dynamic institutions within the
community. The churches and parents of youth interact to provide racial socialization for these
youth. The churches have an important role in providing an orientation for parents looking to
learn how to help their children to develop successfully.
LaTrese Adkins has entered a new field for historians by looking at the funeral practices of
Black families over the years. Usually authors of books on Black families only look at children
and parents, but we also need to look at rituals and funeral patterns because they are very
important family traditions.
Jonathan Livingston explores how the roles of Black fathers are an important element of Black
family life. Few of us are familiar with these interactions because they have not often been written
about in the literature. Jonathan has taken John McAdoo’s original presentation of Black fathers
and presented new dimensions of these fathers’ roles.
Karen Williams shows the importance of extended families in providing support for Black
women who are facing breast cancer. Black women are diagnosed later than others, and in less
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treatable stages, because they are underserved in the health care system. This chapter takes on an
important role in the preservation of our families.
Monica Mouton Sanders explores the openness of Southern middle-class Black families to
family therapy. This image of families is one that is almost never seen in the literature, and the
author finds that these Black families are open to therapy.
All of these scholars have joined the older collaborators to produce this edition, of which we
are proud.
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