Moynihan and the Single-Parent Family: The 1965 Report and Its Backlash

This article provides a highlight of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's report published in 1965 titled "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action." Despite government programs like the War on Poverty, Moynihan reported "the circumstances of the Negro American community was getting worse, not better." Moynihan, believed that fathers must ordinarily be the breadwinners in American families, yet almost one-fourth of negro families were headed by females just a few years after his report. What was to be done? Time and governmental programs have not improved the circumstances of poor families. Now, 50 years from that historic report, governmental leaders are recognizing that Moynihan's serious study of the family was the most important issue of social policy--yet they still do not know what can be done to correct matters.