Franklin to Discuss "The Decline of the Nuclear Black Family"

An increase in the 1990s of African-American mothers and families who are dependent on welfare has been linked to several social factors within modern society: dissolution of the family unit, for example, or a general deficit in family values. But no single societal phenomenon can sufficiently explain African-American families' continued fractionalization and economic instability.

On Tuesday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m., Donna Franklin, co-chair of the Los Angeles-based Council on the Contemporary Family, will discuss "The Decline of the Nuclear Black Family" in Wright Hall Auditorium at Smith College. The lecture is part of the Smith College School for Social Work's 1999 Summer Lecture Series.

In her lecture, Franklin will demonstrate that the cumulative effects of five sociological factors have transformed the African-American nuclear family into its present state. "Increasing attacks on welfare mothers are part of a larger reaction to the growing problems of social dislocation in our nation's urban centers," Franklin says. "The issues involved in the decline of nuclear Black families are complex. The survival of the poorest Black families will depend on social policies and supports that make it possible for mothers to work while caring for their children."

Franklin, who last year won the William J. Goode Distinguished Book Award for her book, "Ensuring Inequality: The Structural Transformation of the African-American Family," has served on the sociology and social work faculties of the University of Southern California, Chicago State University, the University of Chicago and Howard University. She received her undergraduate degree from Loma Linda University in California and her doctorate from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

The lecture is the sixth installment of the School for Social Work's 12-part lecture series. All series events are free and open to the public. The Smith College School for Social Work, which was founded in 1918, enrolls 450 students each year in master's and doctoral programs.

June 25, 1999