Black Family Reunions

The contemporary American family rarely fits into the once-traditional configuration of a father who works hard, a mother who stays at home and wholesome children who never get into trouble. As more couples divorce, more single-parent households grow. As more fathers refuse to provide, more children grow up in poverty. As divorce, drug abuse, teen-age pregnancy and other social problems become more pronounced, more families experience trouble.

Hardest hit are black families. The majority of black families are headed by single women. The majority of black children grow up poor in depressed environments where unemployment, drug abuse, crime, illiteracy and discrimination take a hard toll. In response to the obstacles, many black leaders are pushing self-help strategies during a summer drive to strengthen the black family.

The Black Family Reunion Celebration ‘89, national festivals scheduled in five cities, highlights the historic strengths of black families. The founder, Dr. Dorothy I. Height, uses the forums to remind black Americans of a time when all black adults took responsibility for all black children. “If we are not going to do something for ourselves,” says Height, the president of the National Council of Negro Women, “no one is going to help us.”

The help comes in the form of information. At a discussion on education, a cab driver learnsshe can get her high school equivalency diploma without returning full time to school and giving up her livelihood. At another forum, teen-agers get summer jobs. The help also comes in discussions led by trained leaders and some celebrities. At the Atlanta festival, Coretta Scott King explains how she raised four children alone after her husband, the civil rights leader, was murdered in 1968. She talks about her life as a single mother, valuable and inspirational information for other single parents.

The help is available during workshops on parenting, drugs, women’s issues, business, health and employment. At the Los Angeles celebration, which attracted an estimated 300,000 participants to Exposition Park last weekend, serious discussions also focused on the recent Supreme Court decisions and affirmative action, national black population shifts and concerns about a possible black undercount in the 1990 census.

More than 2 million participants have attended Black Family Reunions since 1986. There is no admission fee, so no mother will have to choose how many children can attend. Corporate sponsors such as Procter and Gamble underwrite the events and give away laundry detergent, toothpaste and other products. The emphasis is on information, but there is music, food and booths selling hard-to-find items such as children’s books on black heroes. The mood is positive.

The final Black Family Reunion is scheduled to take place at the Washington Monument during the second weekend in September. During the celebration, black leaders will take their message to Capitol Hill as they push their strategies to rebuild the black family.