Black families in Chicago are described as bilateral extended in form and as representing an institution that has existed under widely varied conditions: in Southern and Northern, rural and urban environs. Two basic household types are characterized: conjugal and matrilocal, each including a potential second extended phase as sons and daughters remain at home with their own children for varying periods of time. These extended stages, together with the frequent temporary addition of other relatives to the household, both reflect and reinforce the extended family as a primary unit of reciprocity. Migration patterns show a strong tendency for mobile family members and households to join relatives in other areas; reunions, funeral ritual and other family ceremonies are influential in maintaining family ties over distances. Friendships outside the family frequently take on kinship characteristics as “playkin” relationships, further indicating the weight of kinship as a principle of social organization. Origins of family and kinship organization may be seen on Southern plantations, where extended families were more functional than nuclear; yet the Black family represents a tradition that has survived under many conditions, transmitting values of Black Americans.
we can identify black culture in terms of certain institutions and values which they share as members of an ethnic group, while recognizing that individual families and communities identify in important respects with other groups. The ascription of a humanistic character-defined as those values and institutions which black Americans have in common that are not shared by the majority of Americans-is a prevalent theme in the black movement. This view is counterposed to that of American society generally as materialistic in its emphasis. Humanism refers to a recognition of essential human characteristics-experience, feelings, a sense of personal worth-as contrasted with an instrumental evaluation in terms of success, competence, "personality". As an alternative to pejorative or apologetic approaches to the study of black society, anthropologists might consider the proposition that black Americans, constituting a minority that has been, in turn, despised, patronized, or tolerated, but never granted full membership in this society, have nevertheless maintained a tradition in which personal and social integrity, as expressed in cultural, political, and intellectual achievements, are manifest. It can be argued that the circumstances under which black Americans have created a life way necessitated a strongly integrated social organization and a resolute adherence to a system of values in order to survive as a people.
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