'Mistress of Her Cabin' or 'Welfare Queen'? The Discourse on African-American Single Mothers in the 20th Century

Grunddaten zu diesem Projekt

Beschreibung

The ability - or lack thereof - to form stable family bonds has been a reoccurring theme in the American discourse on the African-American community. Especially the role of the African-American mothers have been the cause of heated debates for the past 150 years. Whereas generations of white upper- and upper-middle-class children were brought up by black nannies, black women were repeatedly blamed for their inability to raise their own children to become proper citizens. Central to these discussions was the fact that a high percentage of African-American children were brought up in single parent household. The explanations for this phenomenon were manifold and changed significantly throughout the 20th century. The lines of argument ranged from single parenthood being a result of the African cultural heritage, or a sign of biological or psychological inferiority, to being caused by the disruptive life during the 300 years of slavery. These different explanations had one thing in common: a pathologization of the African-American family as such. The dissertation will trace the discourse on African-American (single) motherhood during the 20th century as put forth by social scientists, politicians and civil rights activists, to find out why this basic assumption as never successfully challenged.