Family and Church Essay -- essays research papers

Family and Church: Enduring Institutions I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  General Family Life As a result of myths of white family life, there has been much confusion over the nature of black families. One of the myths of the nineteenth century entails the close- knit white family, which was parallel to that of the European family. Also, as a result of these myths, scholars often ignored the differences of American and European life. For example, women in frontier areas had a much stronger voice in family affairs than most scholars realized, simply because of the shortage of women. Therefore, women exercised a large percentage of authority in the family. In the cities where family was of little importance as an economic unit and the father was often at work, the care of the children was primarily the responsibility of the mother. By 1880, the American family became more democratic. After the second half of the nineteenth century, changes in the nature and functions of the family occurred. For example, changes such as industrialization, improvements in transportation, the weakening of religious bonds, and increased knowledge of birth control, led to more working wives and more premarital sex, downgraded the importance of family. As a result of relaxed divorce laws and a greater emphasis on romantic love, there was an increase in the number of divorces. By the 1970’s, one in every three marriages ended in divorce, the failure rate for new marriages was thirty percent, nine million people were divorced or separated, and twelve million single individuals were heading households with children. There were so many divorces that a large number of whites were practicing serial monogamy, meaning one person having only one spouse at time, but more than one in his or her lifetime. Most often researchers speak of the pathological disorganization of the black family and imply that all black families are matriarchal, meaning the woman is the head of the household. The dangerous part of this myth was popularized by Daniel P. Moyhnihan, who asserted that the pathological weakness of the black family was,† capable of perpetuating itself without the assistance from the white world.† The weakness of the black family may be seen as a direct result of centuries of white oppression of blacks and not as inherent and immutable. The black family grew out of a complex combination o... ... black clergy felt that Afro Americans had a special duty to regenerate the land of their fathers. The African Methodist Episcopal Church established a mission in Haiti in 1827, for instance, to â€Å"aid in making the Haitian nationality and government, strong, powerful, and commanding among the civilized nations of the earth.† VI.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Literary Praise for the Black Church Black poets, less critical of black religion than novelists, captured more of the essential spirit of the church than most scholars could. While occasionally complaining about the excessive humility of black Christians, the poets used the rhythm and message of sermons, prayers and services in celebration of God’s love and promise of deliverance. The black minister, portrayed sympathetically, was also a favorite subject of black poets. Like James Weldon Johnson, many of the poets reproduced the cadences and messages of the folk sermon. They portrayed the minister’s beautiful word pictures. Among the best of them was Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1896 poem, â€Å"An Antebellum Sermon,† which demonstrates the black preacher’s attempt to correlate biblical messages with his flock’s hope of early rewards.