Racial Differences in Marriage and Childbearing: Oral History Evidence from the South in the Early Twentieth Century

• Published in: The American journal of sociology 1996-05, Vol.101 (6), p.1694-1718
• Main Authors: Pagnini, Deanna L., Morgan, S. Philip
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African American culture; African American studies; African Americans; African Americans - history; Attitudes; Birth; Black White Differences; Child rearing; Children; Children & youth; Continental Population Groups - history; Cultures and civilizations; Divorce; Ethnic groups. Acculturation. Cultural identity; Family; Family Structure; Fertility; History; History of medicine; History, 20th Century; Humans; Husbands; Marriage; Marriage - history; Mothers; Norms; Oral history; Race; Race Relations; Racial differences; Racial differentiation; Social values; Sociology; Southern States; Twentieth Century; U.S.A; United States; United States, South; Unwed Mothers; White people; Whites; Writers
• ISSN: 0002-9602; 1537-5390
• DOI: 10.1086/230871

Using oral histories collected in 1938 and 1939 in the Southern United States, this article examines how African-Americans and whites viewed marriage and nonmarital childbearing. The authors document distinct racial differences in family norms and the sanctions that supported those norms. Giving birth outside a marital relationship was clearly not the stigmatizing event for African-Americans that it was for whites. The authors also found that African-Americans were more likely than whites to end marriages under similar conditions. These results suggest that debates about contemporary racial differences need to take into account the historical background, both cultural and demographic, of diverse groups.