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

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 bir...

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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
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container_title The American journal of sociology
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creator Pagnini, Deanna L.
Morgan, S. Philip
description 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.
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Philip</creator><creatorcontrib>Pagnini, Deanna L. ; Morgan, S. Philip</creatorcontrib><description>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. 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source International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS); JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection; Worldwide Political Science Abstracts; University of Chicago Press Journals; Sociological Abstracts
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
title Racial Differences in Marriage and Childbearing: Oral History Evidence from the South in the Early Twentieth Century
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