Black Women, Black Love

America's War on African American Marriage

By: Dianne M. Stewart

Narrated by: Tracey Leigh

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

In this analysis of social history, examine the complex lineage of America's oppression of Black companionship.

According to the 2010 US census, more than 70 percent of Black women in America are unmarried. Black Women, Black Love reveals how four centuries of laws, policies, and customs have created that crisis.

Dianne Stewart begins in the colonial era, when slave owners denied Blacks the right to marry, divided families, and, in many cases, raped enslaved women and girls. Later, during Reconstruction and the ensuing decades, violence split up couples again as millions embarked on the Great Migration north, where the welfare system mandated that women remain single in order to receive government support. And no institution has forbidden Black love as effectively as the prison-industrial complex, which removes Black men en masse from the pool of marriageable partners.

Prodigiously researched and deeply felt, Black Women, Black Love reveals how white supremacy has systematically broken the heart of Black America, and it proposes strategies for dismantling the structural forces that have plagued Black love and marriage for centuries.

©2020 Dianne M. Stewart (P)2020 Seal Press

Critic reviews

"Black Women, Black Love is profoundly necessary and long overdue. Dianne M. Stewart decimates popular myths about Black love and marriage. She reveals through data, history, and compelling storytelling that structural racism and patriarchy -- beginning with slavery and continuing through racist welfare policies, mass incarceration, and more -- have consistently thwarted the efforts of Black women to marry and sustain healthy, loving relationships." (Michelle Alexander, New York Times best-selling author of The New Jim Crow)

"Dianne M. Stewart's compelling Black Women, Black Love is the first Black feminist/womanist analysis of the structural barriers that make marriage for heterosexual African American women elusive, even impossible, within a racist, sexist America. In painstaking detail, she makes the provocative case that our persistent marital dilemmas over four centuries should be seen as a hidden civil rights issue. Her exploration of the concept of 'forbidden Black love' is nuanced, moving, and attentive to a broad range of variables. Personal narratives enhance her solid, though unsettling, arguments about America's persistent war on Black marriage, as well as 'undesired singlehood' for generations of women who love Black men." (Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women's Studies, Spelman College, and coauthor of Gender Talk)

"Powerful, persuasive, and devastatingly haunting. Dianne M. Stewart has placed a historical and structural lens on the most personal, intimate areas of our lives and brought them into clear focus." (Carol Anderson, New York Times best-selling author of White Rage)

Cherry picked feminism

Usual black feminist writing. Black women are the eternal victims. The same old story of black women being single because of the poor selection of black men.

The hid old tropes in a sea of cherry picked studies and historical facts. Don't bother reading this if you're a black man.

An important contribution

This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the plummeting marriage rates among African Americans in particular. It provides the historical, structural causes that must be considered.

History repeats itself

I liked the way the story is written. It gives a history lesson to help bring the reader up to speed and connect the dots to the plentiful problems we face as black women.

It has also challenged me to confront some of my own beliefs and desires.

If you are a deep thinker, this book is emotionally heavy to process in the beginning.

It ignited a rage inside of me for the experiences we collectively shared, but it also helped give hope towards the end of the book. I think every black woman who is in this predicament should read this book.

where to even begin...

So Black males & females are both victims of western patriarchy, except when Black men somehow take voluntary breaks from said oppression to further oppress Black women using a societal framework that Black men neither created, maintained, or had access to historically? Yup, that checks out.

Regarding marriage, at no point does anyone consider what actually qualifies Black women for marriage besides a will to do so, maybe a degree, and a laundry list of everything men should do?

Eye opener

I never realized that it truly isn't the Black woman's fault that no one loves us. It's been taught for over 400 years that we are at the bottom of every list. Not even our men love us. The reasons given in this audio is why, even though I have three sons, I don't fully support the Black live matter movement

An educational experience

This book makes so many connections between our nation’s history of racism and how it has negatively impacted the black family. We must do the work to turn things around so that our communities can heal and grow.

Love Love

Loved it so much bought the audio version and the hard back! Kudos to the author for writing about a topic that the African Americans so often do not want to talk about

Worth every listening minute

This was a very enlightening book about black love I encourage you all to listen to this book it was awesome.

If you are a black woman—- listen to this!!!!!!

My goodness… well researched, powerful, will change your mindset. Make sure you takes notes while listening to this audiobook.

Must Read

A must read to understand the history of the attack on black love and black families