ABSTRACT
In the rich folk literature of Black Americans, in their songs and poetry, in their contemporary writings of anger and violence and scorn, death is omnipresent. The attitudes and behaviors of Black Americans in regard to death cannot be adequately understood without reference to the accompanying persistent historical presence of violent death. An alternative explanation, seldom acknowledged, is that the family structure of the Black community is seriously affected by the lack of available Black men. Black Americans may be evolving new kinds of family structures, perhaps as viable as traditional models and undoubtedly more attuned to the changing nature of American families in general. The initial impetus for the rapid migration of Black Americans to Southern California was World War II. United States data for non-Whites between 1950 and 1967 show increased death rates due to malignant neoplasms, suicide, and diabetes, and decreased death rates caused by pneumonia and influenza, tuberculosis, accidents, and major cardiovascular-renal diseases.
