Beyond Civil Rights: The Moynihan Report and Its Legacy

Shortly after the 1964 Civil Rights Act Daniel Patrick Moynihan authored a government report titled The Negro Family A Case for National Action that captured the attention of President Lyndon Johnson Responding to the demands of African American activists that the United States go beyond civil rights to secure economic justice Moynihan thought his analysis of black families highlighted socioeconomic inequality However the reports central argument that poor families headed by single mothers inhibited African American progress touched off a heated controversy The long-running dispute over Moynihans conclusions changed how Americans talk about race the family and poverty Fifty years after its publication the Moynihan Report remains a touchstone in contemporary racial politics cited by President Barack Obama and Congressman Paul Ryan among others Beyond Civil Rights offers the definitive history of the Moynihan Report controversy Focusing on competing interpretations of the report from the

Daniel Geary is Mark Pigott Professor in U.S. History at Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of Beyond Civil Rights: The Moynihan Report and Its Legacy (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015).