This is a fantastic conversation with Dr. Eddie Glaude, Princeton University. Here are a few of the highlights:
- A common assumption shared by liberals and conservatives alike is that low marriage rates in African American communities are a byproduct of slavery. However, marriage among African Americans, respected by law or not, was widely embraced in earlier times.
- After marriage was legalized following emancipation, black marriage rates started to eclipse white Americans’ by the turn of the twentieth century.
- Current declining marriage rates may best be attributed to advantages offered to some Americans, and denied to other Americans at specific, consequential junctures, such as in the wake of World War II.