The Color of the Past in the Present

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the human behavior towards Black single mothers. The paper explains that giving a hand to poor or needy Black women, particularly Black single mothers, requires knowledge of Black history and welfare and an understanding of their experience in that context. The paper looks at how while White society confined its women to the home as housekeepers, Black women in the South did not have that option even if their husbands could support them. The paper then points out that in 1996, US President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act to replace the AFDC. It allowed women to work and controlled their reproductive ability which mostly benefited Black mothers and their children. The paper concludes that genuine assistance to any specific group should be drawn from the history and experience of that group. In the case of Black single mothers, the social worker needs to know and understand their long and painful history.

From the Paper:

"Masters of Black slaves bred them as livestock, pairing Black men and Black women with the intention of producing the best offspring, which would perform the best labor and bring in the greatest economic gain (Prince 1999). With their emancipation as full citizens, laws passed to modify and improve their condition. These laws protected them from physical abuse, allowed them to travel, build their own schools, buy land and learn useful skills, which later made many of them succeed as entrepreneurs. Emancipation may have eased but sexual discrimination remained, as neither White nor Black women were allowed to vote."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Prince, J (1999). Black single mothers and the politics of oppression: efforts to effect change. 23 pages. Diversity in Single-Parent Families: Working from Strength: Families International, Inc.

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