There was a time during slavery when black women could not legally marry. Yet, throughout history the single black woman has been vilified.
The controversial Moynihan Report published in the ‘60s declared the demise of the black family could be attributed to black women. In the 1980s, former President Ronald Reagan incited fear and anger in the nation by painting single black mothers as “welfare queens.” Long before that former President Theodore Roosevelt called it “race suicide” for white women to go unmarried and not have children. His fear was other races would become dominant.
On Thursday, April 12, the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park brings together two of its fellows for a discussion titled “African American Marriage in the Twentieth Century: A Conversation.” It features scholars Tera Hunter and Andreá Williams. Williams, an English professor at The Ohio State University, joins host Frank Stasio to talk about her research on unmarried African-American women in the early 20th century and the realities of black marriage.
