Whatever Tomorrow Brings: African-American Families and Government Social Policy

Abstract

Since our involuntary arrival in this country, African-Americans have lived an existence fraught with hardship and uncertainty; yet in tribute to their character, this existence has been marked by determination and accomplishment. Historically, the relationship of blacks with the United States government has been paradoxical, to say the least. At one point this government provided the legal basis for, and military enforcement of, our slavery. Later, the government declared our emancipation, while at the same time sanctioning institutional arrangements calculated to ensure our continued social, economic and political subjugation. More recently, the government waged a ‘Holy War’ on the social, economic and political inequities that had come to symbolize the black experience in this country — only to retreat from the battle just as significant gains were being won. This chapter explores the relationship between empirical research, state policy and processes of social change by examining the vexed relationship between United States government social policy and the status of black families and their children.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. A long, long way from home.

From a negro spiritual