Matter of national public policy interest
The family of teacher Hampton Cornell Williams, Emma Christie Williams, and children in Gainesville, Florida , circa 1900.
The out of wedlock birth rates by race in the United States from 1940 to 2014. The rate for African Americans is the purple line. Data is from the National Vital Statistics System Reports published by the CDC National Center for Health Statistics . Note: Prior to 1969, African American illegitimacy was included along with other minority groups as "Non-White."[1]
The family structure of African Americans has long been a matter of national public policy interest.[2] A 1965 report by Daniel Patrick Moynihan , known as The Moynihan Report , examined the link between black poverty and family structure.[2] It hypothesized that the destruction of the black nuclear family structure would hinder further progress toward economic and political equality.[2]
When Moynihan wrote in 1965 on the coming destruction of the black family, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was 25% among black people.[3] In 1991, 68% of black children were born outside of marriage (where 'marriage ' is defined with a government-issued license ).[4] In 2011, 72% of black babies were born to unmarried mothers,[5] [6] while the 2018 National Vital Statistics Report provides a figure of 69.4 percent for this condition.[7]
Among all newlyweds, 18.0% of black Americans in 2015 married non-black spouses.[8] 24% of all black male newlyweds in 2015 married outside their race, compared with 12% of black female newlyweds.[8] 5.5% of black males married white women in 1990.[9]
^ *Grove, Robert D.; Hetzel, Alice M. (1968). Vital Statistics Rates in the United States 1940-1960 (PDF) (Report). Public Health Service Publication. Vol. 1677. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare , U.S. Public Health Service , National Center for Health Statistics . p. 185.
Ventura, Stephanie J.; Bachrach, Christine A. (October 18, 2000). Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States, 1940-99 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 48. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . pp. 28–31.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Menacker, Fay; Park, Melissa M. (February 12, 2002). Births: Final Data for 2000 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 50. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 46.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Menacker, Fay; Park, Melissa M.; Sutton, Paul D. (December 18, 2002). Births: Final Data for 2001 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 51. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 47.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Sutton, Paul D.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Menacker, Fay; Munson, Martha L. (December 17, 2003). Births: Final Data for 2002 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 52. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 57.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Sutton, Paul D.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Menacker, Fay; Munson, Martha L. (September 8, 2005). Births: Final Data for 2003 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 54. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 52.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Sutton, Paul D.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Menacker, Fay; Kirmeyer, Sharon (September 29, 2006). Births: Final Data for 2004 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 55. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 57.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Sutton, Paul D.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Menacker, Fay; Kirmeyer, Sharon; Munson, Martha L. (December 5, 2007). Births: Final Data for 2005 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 56. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 57.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Sutton, Paul D.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Menacker, Fay; Kirmeyer, Sharon; Mathews, T.J. (January 7, 2009). Births: Final Data for 2006 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 57. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 54.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Sutton, Paul D.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Mathews, T.J.; Kirmeyer, Sharon; Osterman, Michelle J.K. (August 9, 2010). Births: Final Data for 2007 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 58. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 46.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Sutton, Paul D.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Mathews, T.J.; Osterman, Michelle J.K. (December 8, 2010). Births: Final Data for 2008 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 59. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 46.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Osterman, Michelle J.K.; Kirmeyer, Sharon; Mathews, T.J.; Wilson, Elizabeth C. (November 3, 2011). Births: Final Data for 2009 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 60. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 46.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Osterman, Michelle J.K.; Wilson, Elizabeth C.; Mathews, T.J. (August 28, 2012). Births: Final Data for 2010 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 61. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 45.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Ventura, Stephanie J.; Osterman, Michelle J.K.; Mathews, T.J. (June 28, 2013). Births: Final Data for 2011 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 62. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 43.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Osterman, Michelle J.K.; Curtin, Sally C. (December 30, 2013). Births: Final Data for 2012 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 62. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 41.
Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Osterman, Michelle J.K.; Curtin, Sally C.; Mathews, T.J. (January 15, 2015). Births: Final Data for 2013 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 64. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . p. 40.
Hamilton, Brady E.; Martin, Joyce A.; Osterman, Michelle J.K.; Curtin, Sally C.; Mathews, T.J. (December 23, 2015). Births: Final Data for 2014 (PDF) (Report). National Vital Statistics Reports. Vol. 64. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , National Center for Health Statistics , National Vital Statistics System . pp. 7 & 41.
^ a b c "Moynihan's War on Poverty report" . Archived from the original on 2017-01-20. Retrieved 2015-07-31 .
^ Daniel P. Moynihan , The Negro Family: The Case for National Action , Washington, D.C., Office of Policy Planning and Research, U.S. Department of Labor , 1965.
^ National Review , April 4, 1994, p. 24.
^ "Blacks struggle with 72 percent unwed mothers rate" , Jesse Washington, NBC News , July 11, 2010
^ "For blacks, the Pyrrhic Victory of the Obama Era , Jason L. Riley , The Wall Street Journal , November 4, 2012
^ "National Vital Statistics Reports" (PDF) . 68 (13). November 27, 2019: 9. Retrieved 1 January 2021 .
^ a b Pew Research Intermarriage in the U.S. 50 Years After Loving v. Virginia May 18, 2017
^ Wong, Linda Y. (2003). "Why so only 5.5% of Black Men Marry White Women?". International Economic Review . 44 (3): 803–826. doi :10.1111/1468-2354.T01-1-00090 . S2CID 45703289 .