The Moynihan Report - The Negro Family and the Case for National Action

 

While the United States is celebrating Black History this February, this not only offers the opportunity to honor the accomplishments of Black Americans, but is also a time to consider the problems facing the African American population, such as continued higher than average poverty. 

One of Cosimo's popular reports dealing with the history and background of black poverty is:

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action aka The Moynihan Report. This is an important 1965 report by then Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the liberal Daniel Moynihan, who addressed the problem of black poverty.

Different from the orthodox view at the time that economic conditions determine social conditions, this report concluded that the conditions under which black children were being raised, generally in single-mother households, were the leading cause of black poverty. In order to address this, Moynihan called for jobs programs and vocational training for blacks. In his words:

"The fundamental problem… is that of family structure. The evidence - not final but powerfully persuasive - is that the Negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling.”

While this report was believed to have influenced the creation of President Johnson's War on Poverty, its conclusions were criticized by many black and civil rights leaders. Whatever the various criticisms, this controversial report... 

The Moynihan Report - The Negro Family and the Case for National Action

 

While 2020 is the year that the Black Lives Matter movement has drawn attention to the problems facing the African American population, the problems of black poverty had already been addressed years ago in an important 1965 report by then Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the liberal Daniel Moynihan: The Negro Family: The Case for National Action aka The Moynihan Report

Different from the orthodox view at the time that economic conditions determine social conditions, this report concluded that the conditions under which black children were being raised, generally in single-mother households, were the leading cause of black poverty. In order to address this, Moynihan called for jobs programs and vocational training for blacks. In his words:

"The fundamental problem… is that of family structure. The evidence - not final but powerfully persuasive - is that the Negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling.”

While this report was believed to have influenced the creation of President Johnson's War on Poverty, its conclusions were critized by many black and civil rights leaders. Whatever the various criticisms, this controversial report... 

September Quote of the Month: The evidence is that the Negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling

"The evidence is that the Negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling."

— Daniel Patrick Moynihan

In honor of our Book of the Month, The Moynihan Report, we are highlighten this poignant quote from the lead author, Daniel Moynihan, this September.

Against the backdrop of President Johnson's War on Poverty and the Watts riots in Los Angeles, a young civil servant with the Office of Planning and Research O at the Department of Labor, Daniel P. Moynihan, wrote in 1965 his most controversial study The Moynihan Report - The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.

This report drew widespread attention from critics and supporters alike. It concluded that the conditions under which black children were being raised, generally in single-mother households, were the leading cause of black poverty.

As Moynihan wrote decades later: "The work began in the most orthodox setting, to establish at some level of statistical conciseness what 'everyone knew': that economic conditions determine social conditions. Whereupon, it turned out that what everyone knew was evidently not so."

Although Moynihan was a liberal politician and the report called for jobs programs and vocational training for blacks, many black and civil rights leaders found his report patronizing and that it relied on stereotypes of the black family and black men. 

The 1965 statistics, when approximately 25 percent of black babies were born out of wedlock, have not improved 50 years later, when this percentage has grown to 75 percent; with 50 percent for Hispanic babies and 29 percent for white babies. Also in other areas, such as income, employment, and incarceration, the statistics have deteriorated for blacks. The legacy of The Moynihan Report is that the debate it launched around cultural causes of black poverty is still not settled in modern day America.

September Book of the Month: The Moynihan Report - 50 years later

With the upcoming midterm elections, supreme court nominations, and immigration issues on everyone's mind, Cosimo would like to present The Moynihan Report: The Negro Family - The Case for National Action by Office of Policy Planning and Research of U.S. Department of Labor Daniel Moynihan as our Book of the Month for September.

Against the backdrop of President Johnson's War on Poverty and the Watts riots in Los Angeles, a young civil servant with the Office of Planning and Research O at the Department of Labor, Daniel P. Moynihan, wrote in 1965 his most controversial study The Moynihan Report - The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.

This report drew widespread attention from critics and supporters alike. It concluded that the conditions under which black children were being raised, generally in single-mother households, were the leading cause of black poverty.

As Moynihan wrote decades later: "The work began in the most orthodox setting, to establish at some level of statistical conciseness what 'everyone knew': that economic conditions determine social conditions. Whereupon, it turned out that what everyone knew was evidently not so."

Although Moynihan was a liberal politician and the report called for jobs programs and vocational training for blacks, many black and civil rights leaders found his report patronizing and that it relied on stereotypes of the black family and black men. 

The 1965 statistics, when approximately 25 percent of black babies were born out of wedlock, have not improved 50 years later, when this percentage has grown to 75 percent; with 50 percent for Hispanic babies and 29 percent for white babies. Also in other areas, such as income, employment, and incarceration, the statistics have deteriorated for blacks. The legacy of The Moynihan Report is that the debate it launched around cultural causes of black poverty is still not settled in modern day America.