The black extended family - Hardcover

Elmer P. Martin; Joanne Mitchell Martin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226507963 ISBN 13: 9780226507965

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1978

Synopsis

Misunderstood and stereotyped, the black family in America has been viewed by some as pathologically weak while others have acclaimed its resilience and strength. Those who have drawn these conflicting conclusions have gnerally focused on the nuclear family—husband, wife, and dependent children. But as Elmer and Joanne Martin point out in this revealing book, a unit of this kind often is not the center of black family life. What appear to be fatherless, broken homes in our cities may really be vital parts of strong and flexible extended families based hundreds of miles away—usually in a rural area.

Through their eight-year study of some thirty extended families, the Martins find that economic pressures, including federal tax and welfare laws, have begun to make the extended family's flexibility into a liability that threatens its future.

About this title

About the Author:

Elmer P. Martin is professor of social work at the Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland. Joanne Mitchell Martin is Director of the Learning Skills Center at Coppin State College, Baltimore, Maryland.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1978
• ISBN 10: 0226507963
• ISBN 13: 9780226507965
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 129