The breakdown of the Black family was first brought to national attention in 1965 by sociologist and later Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in the groundbreaking Moynihan Report (also known as
"The Negro Family: The Case For National Action"). Moynihan's report made the argument that the relative absence of nuclear families (those having both a married father and mother present) in Black America would greatly hinder further Black socio-economic progress.
The current most widespread African American family structure consisting of a single parent has historical roots dating back to 1880. Data from U.S. Census reports reveal that
between 1880 and 1960, married households consisting of two-parent homes were the most widespread form of African-American family structures. Although the most popular, married households decreased over this time period. Single-parent homes, on the other hand, remained relatively stable until 1960; when they rose dramatically. A study of 1880 family structures in Philadelphia, showed that three-quarters of Black families were nuclear families, composed of two parents and children.
In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City
in 1925, 85 percent of kin-related Black households had two parents. When Moynihan warned in his 1965 report on the coming destruction of the Black family, however, the out-of-wedlock birthrate had increased to 25% among the Black population. This figure continued to rise over time and in 1991, 68% of Black children were born outside of marriage. U.S. Census data from 2010 reveal that more African-American families consisted of single mothers than married households with both parents.
Most recently, in 2011; it was reported that 72% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers.
The African-American family structure has been divided into a twelve-part typology that is used to show the differences in the family structure based on “gender, marital status, and the presence or absence of children, other relatives or non-relatives." These family sub-structures are divided up into three major structures: nuclear families, extended families, and augmented families.