The Vanishing Family: Crisis in Black America is a CBS News special report hosted by Bill Moyers that aired in January 1986. It explores changes in African-American family structure at a time when 60% of Black children were born to single mothers.
The Vanishing Family received numerous awards and widespread acclaim from newspaper columnists. Its influence led Sen. Bill Bradley (D–NJ) to introduce the Bradley Amendment, which since its passage in 1986 has enforced the provision of child support.
Moyers interviews several unwed Black mothers in Newark, New Jersey and explores the dynamics of their families. The special also includes a discussion about social welfare programs. The program includes commentary from Dr. George Jackson of Howard University, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Georgetown University Professor of Law Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Harvard University Professor of Political Economics Glenn Loury.
At a time when The Cosby Show was the most watched show on television, The Vanishing Family presented a radically different image of Black American families to the American public. The special was immediately controversial and received numerous awards.
The Christian Science Monitor described The Vanishing Family as "a hard-hitting news special" on "the current state of the black family in America." [1] The New York Times noted that the special had "no negative racial stereotypes" and praised it as using "intelligence and grace" to describe its subjects. [2]
The Vanishing Family won an Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award Gold Baton for excellence in broadcast journalism. [3] It won Program of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in News and Information at the 2nd TCA Awards. The special won a Peabody Award in 1986. The special also won the Hillman Prize and the Humanitas Prize.
Angela Davis wrote an essay criticizing The Vanishing Family, arguing that there was a flaw in the statistic that impelled the report. In Women, Culture & Politics, she attributed the percentage of black children born to single mothers to the low, and declining, number of married black women having children. [4] [ page needed ]
Authors Kathryn Edin and Timothy J. Nelson credit The Vanishing Family with the introduction of the Bradley Amendment, a legislative amendment that prohibits retroactive reduction of child support obligations. [5]
Bob Ehrlich sees The Vanishing Family as validating the concerns from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose 1965 publication The Negro Family: The Case for National Action had attracted criticism. [6]
Bill Moyers is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, from 1967 to 1974. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for ten years. Moyers has been extensively involved with public broadcasting, producing documentaries and news journal programs, and has won many awards and honorary degrees for his investigative journalism and civic activities. He has become well known as a trenchant critic of the corporately structured U.S. news media.
Anna Paquin is a New Zealand actress. She made her acting debut in the romantic drama film The Piano (1993), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 11, becoming the second-youngest winner in Oscar history. As a child actress, she had roles in Fly Away Home (1996), Jane Eyre (1996), Amistad (1997), The Member of the Wedding (1997), and A Walk on the Moon (1999), as well as in Cameron Crowe's comedy drama film Almost Famous (2000).
The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award honors excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. The awards were established in 1942 and administered until 1967 by Washington and Lee University's O. W. Riegel, Curator and Head of the Department of Journalism and Communications. Since 1968 they have been administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, and are considered by some to be the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, another program administered by Columbia University.
Charles Peete Rose Jr. is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show Charlie Rose on PBS and Bloomberg LP.
Lila Diane Sawyer is an American television broadcast journalist known for anchoring major programs on two networks including ABC World News Tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20, and Primetime newsmagazine while at ABC News. During her tenure at CBS News, she hosted CBS Morning and was the first woman correspondent on 60 Minutes. Prior to her journalism career, she was a member of U.S. President Richard Nixon's White House staff and assisted in his post-presidency memoirs. Presently she works for ABC News producing documentaries and interview specials.
Edward Rudolph Bradley Jr. was an American broadcast journalist and news anchor who is best known for reporting with 60 Minutes and CBS News.
In United States law, the Bradley Amendment is an amendment intended to improve the effectiveness of child support enforcement. It is named after Senator Bill Bradley, who introduced it.
Marla Gibbs is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer, and television producer whose career spans seven decades. Gibbs is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons (1975–1985), for which she received five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Suzanna Celeste de Passe is an American businesswoman, television, music and film producer. De Passe serves as the co-chairwoman of de Passe Jones Entertainment Group.
John Carter Cash is an American country singer-songwriter, musician and author. He is the only child of Johnny Cash and his second wife June Carter Cash. He is the grandson of Mother Maybelle Carter.
Bill Moyers Journal was an American television current affairs program that covered an array of current affairs and human issues, including economics, history, literature, religion, philosophy, science, and most frequently politics. Bill Moyers executive produced, wrote and hosted the Journal when it was created. WNET in New York produced it and PBS aired it from 1972 to 1976.
Mary Alice Williams is a pioneering journalist and broadcast executive who broke gender barriers by becoming the first female Prime Time anchor of a network news division and first woman to hold the rank of Vice President of a news division. Her work and visibility put her in the vanguard, whether at the birth of CNN or later at the dawn of the revolution in information technology. In addition to CNN, she has also served as anchor at many prominent networks, including PBS, Discovery, and NBC.
Stanley Earl Nelson Jr. is an American documentary filmmaker and a MacArthur Fellow known as a director, writer and producer of documentaries examining African-American history and experiences. He is a recipient of the 2013 National Humanities Medal from President Obama. He has won three Primetime Emmy Awards.
The Black Family Reunion Celebration is a two- to three-day cultural event, held annually the third weekend of August, to "reinforce the historic strengths and traditional values of the Black family." It is coordinated by the National Council of Negro Women.
Kathryn J. Edin, is an American sociologist and a professor of sociology and public affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She specializes in the study of people living on welfare. Two of her books are Making ends meet: how single mothers survive welfare and low-wage work, and Promises I can keep: why poor women put motherhood before marriage.
Timothy Marx is an American television and film producer. His credits include productions with Arthur Penn, Sam Shepard, Neil Simon, Al Pacino, Penn & Teller, Garry Trudeau, Bill Moyers, among many others.
The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming was an Emmy award given to performers in television programming aimed towards children. During the 1970s and 1980s, guest performers in dramatic specials and regular performers on children's series competed in the same category. However, starting in 1989, separate categories for performances in children's series and performances in children's specials were created and used until after 2007 when all categories related to Children's Specials were dropped.
The Distinguished Scholarly Book Award is presented annually by the American Sociological Association (ASA) in recognition of an ASA member's outstanding book published within two years prior to the award year.
Carol Jenkins is an American women's rights activist, author, television host, and former television journalist.
Angela Glover Blackwell is an American attorney, civil rights advocate, and author. In 1999, she founded the research and advocacy nonprofit organization PolicyLink, and after twenty years as president and CEO, became the Founder in Residence. Blackwell has regularly provided expert commentary in a variety of news media and hosts the podcast Radical Imagination.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)