African American Families

Slavery, racism, disparity and oppression, Jim Crow laws and decades of marginalization, segregation, intentional and unintentional racism, and poverty are only some of the many challenges that have characterized the lives of African American families. Although there are different ethnic groups of Black Americans, this article refers to African American families whose ancestors were born in Africa. African American families constitute the second largest minority group in the United States and have played an important part in its history as well as its economic and political structure.

Previously, studies on African American families have been replete with ideas of the pathology of the family. Recently, however, scholars are recognizing that a deficit view of the African American family is problematic when working with this population. Instead, ...