African-American family structure

Family Structure refers to the composition of a family, including present members and important figures from the past, as well as the quality of relationships among them. It can be visualized using a genogram to depict the family's structure, composition, and relationships.^[2] A nuclear family consists of a pair of adults and their sociologically recognized biological chlldren.^[3]

From the initial involuntary migration of African Americans to the United States an ad hoc family structure, assembled based on enslaved people that lived in proximity to one another, and changed and adjusted as enslaved persons were sold, died prematurely or disconnected in some other manner, creating more emphasis on the extended family and non-biological connectedness of people as opposed to formalized titles and relatioships. The continued need for extended non-biological "family" continued throughout Reconstruction and Jim Crow because of the prevalence at which nuclear families were disrupted because of premature death, primarily of fathers, grandfathers and other male figureheads.^[4]

Many notable African American figures, like Earl Little, father of Malcolm X who died while tied to rail tracks,^[5] and Emitt Till whose father Louis Till was lynched whilst serving in the US Army, throughout history were raised by single mothers with the help of family and friends as a result of their father being assassinated, this helped to normalize within the culture to not blame or ostracize the woman for being a single mother. This breakdown of social norms had a significant impact on the acceptability of out of wedlock childbirth.

The family structure of African Americans has long been a matter of national public policy interest.^[6] A 1965 report by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, known as The Moynihan Report, examined the link between black poverty and family structure.^[6] It hypothesized that the destruction of the black nuclear family structure would hinder further progress toward economic and political equality.^[6]

When Moynihan wrote in 1965 on the coming destruction of the black family, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was 25% among black people.^[7] In 1991, 68% of black children were born outside of marriage (where 'marriage' is defined with a government-issued license).^[8] According to the CDC/NCHS Vital statistic report 1970–2010,^[9] in 2011, 72% of black babies were born to unmarried mothers,^[10][11] while the 2018 National Vital Statistics Report provides a figure of 69.4 percent for this condition.^[12] The information was compiled using birth certificate information. The data reflects births for mothers 15–44 years of age and excludes older women. Changes in reporting procedures for marital status occurred in some states during the 1990s.and the report footnotes also make clear that the report refers to national numbers however there were states that did not report data.

Among all newlyweds, 18.0% of black Americans in 2015 married non-black spouses.^[13] 24% of all black male newlyweds in 2015 married outside their race, compared with 12% of black female newlyweds.^[13] 5.5% of black males married white women in 1990.^[14]