Extended Families Among Black Americans

Abstract

Black families in Chicago are described as bilateral extended in form and as representing an institution that has existed under widely varied conditions: in Southern and Northern, rural and urban environs. Two basic household types are characterized: conjugal and matrilocal, each including a potential second extended phase as sons and daughters remain at home with their own children for varying periods of time. These extended stages, together with the frequent temporary addition of other relatives to the household, both reflect and reinforce the extended family as a primary unit of reciprocity. Migration patterns show a strong tendency for mobile family members and households to join relatives in other areas; reunions, funeral ritual and other family ceremonies are influential in maintaining family ties over distances. Friendships outside the family frequently take on kinship characteristics as “playkin” relationships, further indicating the weight of kinship as a principle of social organization. Origins of family and kinship organization may be seen on Southern plantations, where extended families were more functional than nuclear; yet the Black family represents a tradition that has survived under many conditions, transmitting values of Black Americans.