ABSTRACT
As you look across time and generations, it is important to acknowledge the significance of multigenerational family networks and intergenerational relationships that are central to the African-American experience. History tells us that extended family networks have always been prevalent in the African diasporas. Multigenerational families (four or five generations) providing support and care for family members and fictive kin (nonblood relatives) across the life course has been well documented (Billingsley, 1992, 1999; Freeman & Logan, 2004; Hill, 1972, 1999; Ladner, 1998; Logan, 2001; McAdoo, 1997; McCubbin, 1998; Staples, 1999; Taylor, Jackson, & Chatters, 1997). Equally established are the reports of family and community perseverance in the face of disparity and oppressions spanning 400 years of slavery, years of “Jim Crow,” decades of segregation, marginalization, and continued intentional and unintentional racism (Christian, 1995). In spite of these barriers, there is a legacy of people of African descent with strong family connections, resilience, spirituality, and hope (Bagley & Carroll, 1998; Denby, 1996).
