The primary purpose of this book is to serve as a basic text on the black family as an institution. To facilitate an understanding of the black American family, an analysis is presented of the various sociocultural forces that shape both the structure and functions of the family as well as the way the family has experienced changes. Larger forces outside the black community are analyzed, such as assimilation, unemployment and underemployment, the role of government and public policy, and the imbalance in the gender ratio. The role of education is considered. Typically, the best efforts of the black male in preparing for the job market do not insure equal employment opportunities. At every educational level, blacks are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed. Single-parent families and children in poverty face barriers in access to education, equal educational opportunities, and the opportunity to benefit fully from public education. The theoretical perspective of the analysis is a political economy model that assumes that contemporary black family structure is a function of political and economic forces that have shaped its existence for several centuries. A list of 462 references is included, and an additional bibliography lists 97 selected readings. (SLD)