With consideration to the Black family in the United States, there is really only one word that comes to mind: resilience. Resilience, defined as the ability to withstand and overcome adverse circumstances (Rutter, 1987), is the primary way by which Black American families can be described and defined (Hollingsworth, 2013).
This commentary provides an overview of resilience in the Black family. It also offers a reflection on important work in this issue assessing the historical and future-oriented conceptualization of Black families in the social welfare system. A research program spanning an investigation of low-income Black families to theoretical and intervention development is also provided.
My work has considered the issues facing Black American families ranging from poverty to racial discrimination. With respect to my earlier work focused on parenting, I found that, although challenges may be present for these families, an interview excerpt stating “all you can do is make it better” highlights the resilience within these families and their desire to improve upon the struggles that may be present.
Focusing on the deficits and challenges of Black children is but one way of assessing Black family functioning but recall that the seeds can only withstand so much poison: they require innumerably more nutrients than pesticides. As such, my current work has delved into the theoretical (Anderson & Stevenson, 2019), empirical (Anderson, McKenny, Mitchell, Koku, & Stevenson, 2018), and intervention-related (Anderson, McKenny, & Stevenson, 2019) contributions focusing on racial socialization and the resilience found within the Black family unit.
This report identifies and analyzes five strengths of black families: adaptability roles, strong kinship bonds, strong work orientation, strong religious orientation, and achievement orientation. These five characteristics have been functional for the survival, advancement, and stability of black families. Most discussions of black families tend to focus on indicators of instability and weakness.
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It is here contended that examining the strengths of black families can contribute as much towards understanding and ameliorating social problems as examining their weaknesses. If, as most scholars agree, there is a need to strengthen black families, then a first-order priority should be the identification of presently-existing strengths and resources.
The National Urban League recognized this need three years ago when it issued a position statement on black families based on the work of Dr. Andrew Billingsley. Among the major findings from this report is that, contrary to the widespread belief in a "matriarchy" among blacks, most black families, whether low-income or not, are characterized by an equalitarian pattern in which neither spouse dominates, but shares decision-making and the performance of expected tasks.
When the question arises as to why Black families should be uniquely considered for familial services and theories, it is with the same understanding that the soil Black families have been asked to contend with is permeated with racism and unfair disadvantage. If the very society asking you to improve the strategies for your child’s growth sees you in a unique light, then unique strategies have to be implemented to nurture and cultivate your child. Such consideration is inherent in racial socialization, which is the behavioral and verbal suggestions of parents to contend with a racial world (Hughes et al., 2006).
Beyond parenting to produce a happy, healthy, and autonomous child, parents must consider the impact of the racial society in encouraging their children to have strong racial pride, prepare for bias, consider the trustworthiness of others, and balance ideas of humanity with reality (Anderson, Jones, Anyiwo, McKenny, & Gaylord-Harden, 2018). It is this added burden and blessing which makes the consideration of how Black families navigate rearing of children distinctive relative to other families who do not see the import or choose to not engage in this parenting strategy. This active parenting strategy is essentially pulling the weeds from and placing the fertilizer around the rich seeds that has so much to offer the world.
In Leading with Racial Equity (this issue), Bibbs (2019) describes how resilience in early childhood is a critical component of Black American family life. In conceptualizing this framework, Bibbs indicates the importance of dynamic organizations, individual and cultural trauma, community partnerships, and cross-sector collaboration.
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As noted by Bibbs, an empirical analysis of the factors contributing to parental navigation for Black children is critical to racial equity and resilience. As such, I thought about the ways racial discrimination in particular impacted various parenting characteristics and parent-child relationships with respect to child psychological wellness (Anderson, 2015).
Once I asked the fundamental question of the pathways leading to Black child harm, it was necessary to ask what are the strategies to help Black children succeed.
Here's a table summarizing the five core strengths:
| Strength | Description |
|---|---|
| Adaptability of Roles | Flexibility in family roles to meet changing needs. |
| Strong Kinship Bonds | Close and supportive relationships within the extended family. |
| Strong Work Orientation | Emphasis on hard work and perseverance. |
| Strong Religious Orientation | Faith and spirituality as sources of strength and guidance. |
| Achievement Orientation | Value placed on education and success. |
When we think about what it takes for seeds to grow, there are two factors by which understanding this growth is critical as indicated by Bibbs: shifting from a child to family focus and asking why Black families need to be uniquely considered. With respect to shifting from a child to family focus, I liken it to an inquiry on why the seed simply will not grow to the more appropriate inquiry of what are the resources, materials, and tools used to cultivate the growth of the seed? Black children, as all children, are parts of a system of dynamic and interconnected decisions, actions, and reactions.
Such a poorly framed focus on the “deficits” of the child rather than a holistic understanding of the systems by which the child came into their environment woefully neglects the oppression that has stifled the growth of Black children and their families in the United States. And, even though concrete, rocks, and other obstacles attempt to block the potential of the seed to sprout and manifest, blooms still manage to make their way toward the light.
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It is critical to connect these elements of the literature because, without any one of them, greater scrutiny can be applied to the remaining components.
In essence, we not only need to support the growth of seeds and the skills of the gardeners but need to be building entirely new gardens and ecosystems for them to blossom. We need enough scholars to come together to change an entire field, a valiant effort that Bibbs has initiated in this work.
With the contribution of Bibbs and others, we can develop an ecology that will support a generation of nurtured families and will not have to wait for another half-century to go by before changing the narratives of early scholarship.
