ABSTRACT
Many storms have passed over African-American women in the past few hundred years. We have been ignored, put on the front burner and admired, left behind as expendable, used when needed, tossed aside when not needed, and rebuked by most whites and by many blacks, especially the men. This chapter will cover the treatment of women who have been marginalized ever since their appearance in North America and the institutional biases that are held against them. They are as an excluded caste. Their lot has been long quiet acceptance, resistance, and being marginalized by society as a whole. A critical analysis of mainstream theoretical frameworks shows that African-American families, adults, and children can be fully understood only in relation to the interaction of social class, culture, ethnicity, and race (Blackburn and Holbert, 1987). This chapter will examine the developmental processes of marginalized women within family, children, and those who are not in families.
