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From the Inside Front Jacket...
The majority of African American children live in homes without their fathers, but the proportion of African American children living in
intact, two-parent families has risen significantly since 1995. Black Fathers in Contemporary American Society looks at father absence from two sides, offering an in-depth analysis of how the absence of African American fathers affects their children, their relationships, and society as a whole, while countering the notion that father absence and family fragmentation within the African American community is inevitable.
Editors Obie Clayton, Ronald B. Mincy, and David Blankenhorn lead a diverse group of contributors — encompassing a range of disciplines and ideological perspectives — who all agree that father absence among
black families is one of the most pressing social problems today. In part I, the contributors offer possible explanations for the decline in marriage among African American families. William Julius Wilson believes
that many men who live in the inner city no longer consider marriage an option because their limited economic prospects do not enable them to provide for a family. Part II considers marriage from an economic
perspective, emphasizing that it is in part a wealth-producing institution. Maggie Gallagher points out that married people earn, invest, and save more than single people, and that when marriage rates are low in a
community, it is the children who suffer most. In part III, the contributors discuss policies to reduce absentee fatherhood. Wornie Reed demonstrates how public health interventions, such as personal development
workshops and work-related skill-building services, can be used to address the causes of fatherlessness. Wade Horn illustrates the positive results achieved by fatherhood programs, especially when held early in a
man's life. In the last chapter, Enola Aird notes that from 1995 to 2000, the proportion of African American children living in two-parent, married couple homes rose from 34.8 to 38.9 percent – a significant
increase indicating the possible reversal of the long-term shift toward black family fragmentation.
Black Fathers in Contemporary American Society provides an in-depth look at a problem affecting millions of children while offering proof that the trend of father absence is not irrevocable.
Obie Clayton is professor and chair of the Sociology Department at Morehouse College and executive director of the Morehouse Research Institute. Ronald B. Mincy
is the Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice at the School of Social Work, Columbia University. David Blankenhorn is president of the Institute for American Values.
Contributors
OBIE CLAYTON is professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at Morehouse College and executive director of the Morehouse Research Institute.
RONALD B. MINCY is the Maurice V. Russell
Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice at the School of Social Work, Columbia University.
DAVID BLANKENHORN is president of the Institute for American Values.
ENOLA G. AIRD is an affiliate
scholar and director of the Motherhood Project at the Institute for American Values, New York.
LAWRENCE D. BOBO is Norman Tishman and Charles M. Diker Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at
Harvard University.
MAGGIE GALLAGHER is an affiliate scholar at the Institute for American Values.
WADE F. HORN is Assistant Secretary for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Resources. He previously served as president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, as director of Outpatient Psychological Services at the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and
on the faculty of George Washington University.
JOAN W. MOORE is distinguished professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
BARBARA MORRISON-RODRIGUEZ is president and CEO of BMR
Consulting, LLC, in Tampa, Florida. At the time the chapter was written, she was the I. DeQuincy Newman Professor of Social Work at the University of South Carolina.
STEVEN L. NOCK is professor of sociology at the University of Virginia.
HILLARD POUNCY is an independent scholar.
WORNIE L. REED is professor of sociology and urban studies at Cleveland State University.
WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON is the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor and Director of the Joblessness and
Urban Poverty Research Program at Harvard University.
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