Established in 2006, Black Family Month celebrates families and their enrichment through education, health, and self-improvement. Shaun McLaughlin founded this celebration after observing how families spent more time together in July attending family-related events.
We know it can be difficult to reconnect with the family sometimes, but studies show that spending time with family can improve communication, promote respect and mutual appreciation, and build confidence and self-esteem.
The black family has been a topic of study in many disciplines—history, literature, the visual arts and film studies, sociology, anthropology, and social policy. Its representation, identity, and diversity have been reverenced, stereotyped, and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time.
The black family knows no single location since family reunions and genetic ancestry searches testify to the spread of family members across states, nations, and continents. Not only are individual black families diasporic, but Africa and the diaspora itself have been long portrayed as the black family at large.
While the role of the black family has been described by some as a microcosm of the entire race, its complexity as the “foundation” of African American life and history can be seen in numerous debates over how to represent its meaning and typicality from a historical perspective—as slave or free, as patriarchal or matriarchal/matrifocal, as single-headed or dual-headed household, as extended or nuclear, as fictive kin or blood lineage, as legal or common law, and as black or interracial, etc.
Variation appears, as well, in discussions on the nature and impact of parenting, childhood, marriage, gender norms, sexuality, and Incarceration.
The family offers a rich tapestry of images for exploring the African American past and present.
If you are looking for ideas on how to reconnect and reignite your connection with your immediate and extended family, here are a few activities that you can do together to celebrate Black Family Month:
• Cooking special family recipes together
• Have a family movie night
• Have a family game night
• Go on a family trip
• Start a family group chat
• Celebrate your family, and create memories that last a lifetime!
In the City of Springfield MA on Sunday, July 31, 2022, the ad hoc organization “A United Us” presents BLACK FAMILY FIELD DAY at Blunt Park. Organizers say the event is an opportunity for Black Families to come together and build bonds through fun outdoor activities, the sharing of culture, and the breaking of bread.
