The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925 is a book by Herbert G. Gutman about how slavery affected Black families in the United States. Gutman uses many sources—census data, diaries, family records, bills of sale, and other records—to study family life from 1750 to 1925. He argues against the idea that slavery destroyed Black families, showing that after the Civil War Black families often had more two‑parent households and stayed together longer than white families in some areas. They also remained intact during the first wave of migration to the North after emancipation. By 1925, Black families were still growing stronger and building more wealth, showing resilience rather than breakdown under slavery.