Family Structure in Black America

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Black People aren’t poor because they spend.

Seriously. We aren’t

Many site the reason that Black people only make up 12% of the population but 22% are living in poverty is because Black people simply cannot manage their money. 

With rappers like the Migos rapping about how much they admire Versace and 2Chainz literally stating that the meaning behind his rap name is that one chain isn’t enough, many outside of poverty and the Black community believe that Black people are throwing away thousands of dollars. 

While this may be true for some, it is ridiculous to assume that families that are unable to even feed or fully cloth their children will be willing to spend money on luxuries. 

From the imaginary Black welfare queen of Regan’s era to those like Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) who believe poor people should skip "new iPhone" and "invest in their own health care," the Black poor get no sympathy as they try to scrap together their earnings to give themselves a life worth living. 

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Poverty in Black Families

Poverty has been one of the biggest issues affecting African American families. Overall, the mean household income in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau in 2014 was $72,641. However, the mean income for African American households was $49,629. The poverty rate for Black women, at 26%, is higher than that of working age Black men, at 21%. This problem rears an even uglier head when paired with the fact that 72% of Black children are raised in single parent, female headed homes. This is more than 20% of the national average of 50%. 

Poverty brings hardship to families, causing marital problems, distress, lower levels of education, and psychological issues that could affect healthy development as a family.

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“The Great Migration was really a seeking of political asylum within the boarders of one’s own country”

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Urban Migration

After the Civil War,many former slaves continued to live in the south. Initially, these new freed people tried to remain in the rural south. However, economic hardship quickly proved this task to be too difficult.  In later decades, more and more African Americans moved to urban areas. The bustling urbanization of the North and the Midwest was attractive to African Americans during this time. This twentieth century wave of migration out of the rural South was so massive that by 1998, only 55 percent of African Americans lived in the South. The close knit ties of the rural south were traded for the hustle and bustle of the city life and although many left the South, racism still continued to follow African Americans around. The more overt, cross burning forms of racism were traded for legal discrimination.

African Americans often had to face racial discrimination in the form of housing and the types of jobs available. This almost immediately put African Americans in a state of perpetual poverty with no chance of social mobility. 

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8 Ways Slavery Affected Black Families And Still Has An Impact Today - Page 4 of 4 - Atlanta Black Star

Broken Traditions African family traditions, which varied according to national origin and religion, could not be replicated in the New World after African

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The Slave Trade and Black Families

The slave trade was directly responsible for breaking families apart. This was accomplished by undermining and replacing family structures with identities based solely around being property.

Enslaved Africans, because this identity of being property, were not allowed to marry. This means that there was no permanent family structure to exist in the quarters of slaves. Many families were even considered as assets and were divided amongst descendants should the slave master pass away. Enslaved peoples knew that in any moment those that they held near and dear tot heir hearts, could be gone in an instant.