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The shocking state of Black marriage: experts say many will never get married





Ebony, Nov, 2003 by Joy Bennett



THE good news is that the Black marriage rate seems to be on the upswing--from 46.1 percent in 1996 to 47.9 percent in 2001--after a 40-year downward spiral.

But the slight increase is only one cheerful note in an otherwise mournful tune. The bad news is that the number of Black married couples is only half the number of married Whites, and the situation is getting worse. In 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, more than 70 percent of all Black families were headed by married couples. In 2002 that number was 48 percent.

An even more alarming statistic is the increase in the number of both Black men and women who have never been married. Nearly 45 percent of Black men have never married and 42 percent of Black women have never married. More to the point, an increasing number of Black women will never get married. The percentage of Black women who are married declined from 62 percent to 31 percent between 1950 and 2002.

Not only are African-Americans marrying at a lower rate, they are also marrying at a later age. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reports that by the age of 30, 81 percent of White women and 77 percent of Hispanics and Asians will marry, but that only 52 percent of Black women will marry by that age. Black women are also the least likely to re-marry following divorce. Only 32 percent of Black women will get married again within five years of divorce; that figure is 58 percent for White women and 44 percent for Hispanic women.

Our culture is changing, for better or worse. Do we want to turn the clock back? What's the most important impact of marriage? IMO, it's that a child has 2 loving examples of what good people do and are.



Is that lost in our new culture? Undoubtedly so, in many areas. Is marriage the key? I just don't know.

could be an indicator of why crime rates are higher amongst black males. the proper familial role models are lacking, perhaps?

ch4rlie wrote: could be an indicator of why crime rates are higher amongst black males. the proper familial role models are lacking, perhaps?




That stands to reason. Wouldnt that make it a repeating cycle ? Should black women start looking within the white population for life partners ?

Nomad wrote: That stands to reason. Wouldnt that make it a repeating cycle ? Should black women start looking within the white population for life partners ?


i would say so. there is a reason for everything. it's not racism it's black and white figures. (no pun intended) :wah:



should they? if they want to. sure.

Nomad wrote: Should black women start looking within the white population for life partners ? No, there are many black men who are good or even better than some white men out there..these women just need to stop looking at the sorry arse men in their neighborhoods and go find good men instead.

Angelica wrote: No, there are many black men who are good or even better than some white men out there..these women just need to stop looking at the sorry arse men in their neighborhoods and go find good men instead.




But if less black men are getting educated, more black men are going to prison and there are more women than men in the population doesnt that narrow the pool drastically ?

Nomad wrote: But if less black men are getting educated, more black men are going to prison and there are more women than men in the population doesnt that narrow the pool drastically ?
Yes it does, but I also think that these same women, if they are single mothers, also need to teach their male children how "not" to be like the those men. They also need to set an example.