African Americans are the least likely to get married among all of the racial groups in America. Why is this?
Since the 1960’s the marriage rate for African Americans has been steadily dropping. The U.S. Census reported in 2001 that over 43 percent of black men had never been married. This is a huge contrast to 27.4 percent of white men. In the United States, the overall marriage rate fell by 17 percent but for black it fell by 34 percent. Joy Jones wrote in her Washington Post article “Marriage is for White People” that according to sociologist Andrew J. Cherlin “that a black child was more likely to grow up living with both parents during slavery days than he or she is today.” Black couples divorce 2/3 of the time compared with other groups in America.
Why don’t black men marry?
There are many opinions and thoughts on this topic. I was a guest on the radio show “One Man One Woman”(heard exclusively on TalktainmentRadio.com) where the topic was “Black Men and Marriage.”
The discussion became heated with theories such as:
- Successful black men having their choice of black women because of the lack of successful, college educated black men in the dating pool
- Non-black women’s willingness to date black men, therefore widening a black man’s dating choices
- Black women being too “picky” about the qualities she wants in a black male partner
- Black women being too “naggy” and aggressive
- Black families not having the value in America it once did
- Women having sex without the commitment of marriage
- Black men getting the benefits of marriage (sex, companionship) without the commitment
The show was lively and fast paced while providing insight on black men and marriage in our society. Listen to the show on “One Man, One Woman” and leave in the comments your thoughts as to why you think black men don’t marry.
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