The Vanishing Black Family: How Welfare and Feminism Made Marriage Optional and Children Vulnerable

by Delano Squires

A bold Christian voice challenges progressives to confront the one racial disparity they have ignored for the breakdown of the black family.

Today, 70 percent of black children are born to unmarried parents and close to half grow up without a father at home. Both figures are significantly higher than the national average. Yet progressives–especially black leaders in the church, politics, academia, and the media–are silent. In The Vanishing Black Family, Delano Squires confronts racial justice advocates with the question they can no longer how can you dismiss the collapse of marriage and decline in two-parent homes that is widening the gaps in income, education, and incarceration you claim to care about?  

Deeply researched and unafraid to tell hard truths, this book traces black family life from American chattel slavery to the present. Its most uncomfortable revelation is that most black children are no longer born to — and raised by — married parents because of welfare policies and feminist activism in the 1960s.  But Squires is not content to complain about the problem. He calls for a new civil rights movement led by black pastors, HBCUs, and other key institutions to ensure more children grow up in a loving home with a married mother and father. Anticipating inevitable challenges, he prepares marriage advocates for opposition from progressives who reject family revival for ideological reasons. 

Equal parts cultural critique and call to action, The Vanishing Black Family promises to be the most consequential book on race in recent memory.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published June 16, 2026

Reviews

[Nicole Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end of a thing (this book) is better than the beginning. A more apt title for this could be "The Vanishing Black Family: How Perpetual Male Adolescent Mindsets and a Changing Cultural Landscape Contributed to Put Black American Marriage in Decline. At times it felt like Squires was punching down on Black women. Why does the fate of marriage depend so much on the perceived progressive mentalities of women? For me, this book raises more questions than answers, especially given the cursory mention of white violence and oppression as responses to black advancement following Reconstruction, some of which, arguably, we still see today. The author completely lost me when he referred to Bill Cosby and Kevin Samuels as thought leaders. May they continue to rest in peace and or the bin of obscurity where their ideas belong. Some salient points: trap/drill/ratchet music can contribute to youth degeneracy. Furthermore, it would be great to have a revival of flourishing Black marriages, but 51% of black men have never been married. That deserves more explanation in this book. All in all "The Vanishing Black Family" is well-researched and written although I disagree with many of its premises. Who is the audience anyway? Read at your own risk.

[Jennifer Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful nonfiction full of statistics on how the devolution of the family in America has contributed to so many other social issues: poverty, incarceration, etc.

[Judy Colprubin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes a lot of very important points that should stop being taboo subjects. Unfortunately these points will likely get missed by people who will be put off by the book's religious and conservative framing.

[Kenneth L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Squires makes a lot of points that many are afraid to make. Whether you agree with him or not, his proposed explanations and solutions to the rift in the black family today are viable and worth hearing. In fact, if many of his proposed solutions were carried out, we would likely see real, positive change in the Black community. Unfortunately, his call for improved moral discipline will turn off a lot of people, even though it shouldn't. The heritage foundation is also a sub-optimal sponsor for this book. I wish this perspective could recieve support from traditional black think takes and leadership groups, but alas, as seen here in the reviews, the black community in conjunction with the liberal community just isn't having it. There should be a bipartisan consensus that responsible child rearing begins with marriage between two biological parents and that whatever we can do to promote that should happen, but that's just not the world we live in. It's a sad, self-destructive cycle that, I guess, will continue until it stops.

[Harmonie Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delano Squires examines fatherlessness and low marriage rates in the black family and argues that social welfare and feminism have made it happen. He begins with slavery, then highlights the 1960s "second wave feminism," he references The Feminine Mystique; and moves to the 1980s and 1990s with welfare reform and pop culture, particularly rap music, up to the present day. Squires focuses exclusively on black people in major American cities. He writes nothing about black families in suburbs or small towns. He uses broad strokes and equates feminism with women who dismiss men. He makes stark assumptions about sex, male and female relationships, abortion, and marriage. He wants men and women to marry each other and raise their biological children together. Squires understands the critical role husbands and fathers play in the family, but he does not unpack the reasons why so many black men are unwilling or unable to be husbands and fathers and lead a traditional nuclear family.

[Mary Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the WSJ opinion columnist Jason Riley; he recommended this book so I thought I’d give it a try.

I do agree with the author’s premise that children are best served when they are raised by a mother and father who are married to each other, and he presents much compelling evidence to support this position.

I found this to be an interesting book; I also believe that it might not get the support it deserves - which, in my opinion, is unfortunate.

[kenneth wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best that I’ve read

[Kellee Rayburn]

Excellent study of the impact that the civil rights movement and political changes have had on the stability and structure of the African American family.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots to unpack here, good to think about things I might need to learn more about to agree or disagree.

[Joni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Its about time someone was totally honest with this problem and its true causes. A must read for everyone who truly cares.

[Julianne Harkleroad · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a powerful book that is sure to ruffle some feathers. Squires provides so many facts and stats to support his claim, I can't imagine anyone who disagrees has much more than hurt feelings to present in opposition to his arguments and conclusions.

Bravo 👏🏻