This year, Black History Month returns to its roots with a new focus on black family ties.
The theme for 2021, "The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity", explores the wide-ranging diversity of black family life -- from single to two-parent households to nuclear, extended, and, more recently, bi-racial.
Throughout black history, factors such as slavery, inequality, and poverty have put pressure on maintaining family ties, when a better life meant traveling far from home.
This may certainly be the reason why family reunions have always remained popular within the African American community, as meetings of far-flung relations take place each year with a joyful exchange of memories, photos, and storytelling.
Paradoxically, economic pressures that may pull black families apart also often unite them.
That is, against prejudice and bigotry, many black families may pool resources or find job opportunities, or simply find emotional comfort within their own micro-community. In that respect, "brothers" or "aunties" may be good friends or neighbors who simply qualify for the title. Throughout American history, the black community has always exhibited an unwavering understanding of the value of family -- as an incomparable source of comfort, strength, and even survival.
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