Twentieth Century Developments
Around the 1960s, African American family structures started to change. Social statistics estimated that nearly 80 percent of African American families during the sixties were headed by a husband and wife team. As economic conditions changed and poverty-stricken areas became more rampant in major cities, more African American women earned higher degrees and started working outside the home. This movement precipitated economic and psychological ripples that resulted in many African American families today being headed by one spouse, usually the mother of the children.