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1. By Eliot Somers

2.  “Tribal”
 Large family groups
 Sophisticated lifestyle

3.  Marked the beginning of family
disruption
 Destroyed hundreds of years of African
culture
 Resulted
in fewer young blacks in the
New World

4.  Tore families apart even more
 Created distanced yet strong
relationships
• Reflected in today’s African American
population

5.  Notion of strong yet distanced
relationships
• Each member of the Charles family has a
different connection with the piano
• Typical black family of the 1930’s
 Extended – Charles Family
 Interdependent

6.  Generation Gap
• Bernice and Maretha
• Hard to relate, Maretha is alienated
 Familymembers spread throughout the
United States, via the Great Migration

7.  Included 3 generations of Charles’
 Not uncommon for the time period
 Provided a stable family unit for children

8.  Thanks to MLK Jr. and the Civil Rights
Movement, African Americans no longer
face fears of being separated from their
loved ones
 African Americans are still more likely to
live in “non-taditional” family units, but
less so than before.