The Myth of the Black Matriarchy Under Slavery

When attempting to answer the question of why blacks have not obtained equality, social scientists have often relied on historical data. However, interpretations of this data have led to widely varying conclusions, especially concerning the historical development of the black American family. One line of argument, advocated by W.E.B. DuBois (1903), Stanley M. Elkins (1963), and E. Franklin Frazier (1948), among others, claims that pressures on the black family from slavery to the present have resulted in a family that inadequately socializes its members. Some corroborative evidence is found in slave autobiographies. Fredrick Douglas writes, "of my father I know nothing. Slavery had no recognition of fathers" (1962:27). Booker T. Washington, in a similar vein wrote "Of my father I know even less than my mother. I do not even know his name" (1965:15-16). Elkins concludes that black families were not viable for socialization (1963:305). Frazier believes that "the negro mother remained the most stable and dependable element during the entire period of slavery" (cited in Rudwick, 1971:66). Perhaps the culmination of this viewpoint came in the study done by Glazer and Moynihan (1963) which·argues: