Dorothy Height, NCNW, and the National Black Family Reunion
Dorothy I. Height and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) organized the National Black Family Reunion beginning in 1986. Founded in 1935 by Mary McLeod Bethune, the NCNW played a major role in the mid-twentieth century’s Black Freedom Movement with Height as its national president. As the twenty-first century emerged, Black families and communities presented new challenges that the NCNW addressed drawing upon the African American Family Reunion tradition. Historically, the Family Reunion has kept Black families connected despite family members relocating. According to Harriette Cole and John Pinderhughes, “a family reunion represents the one time that some families get to be together- usually in warm weather- to share their love… the family reunion is an event set aside by the choice of the family to honor its members.”
The family reunion, then, is a celebration that strengthens bonds and renews love. For bell hooks, “Love remains for black people a crucial path to healing.” She says, “To heal our wounded communities, which are diverse and multilayered, we must return to a love ethic, one that is exemplified by the combined forces of care, respect, knowledge, and responsibility.” Out of love for Black families and communities, the NCNW drew upon the Family Reunion and the strength of the Black family to positively and proactively address important concerns. They sought to reaffirm family values and serve community needs through celebration and festivities. In fact, celebrations for African American’s are an act of resistance because it engenders Black joy. Kellie Carter Jackson views joy as spiritual asserting, “it is a conscious conjuring of pleasure that transcends one’s circumstances.” Given the realities of racialized oppression experienced by African people and people of African descent, to experience joy in the face of that oppression is an act of resistance.
The National Black Family Reunion was a demonstration of love, family, community, and a commitment to racial uplift.
Dorothy Height explains the origins of the National Black Family Reunion stating, “Our inspiration was a PBS documentary by Bill Moyers, The Vanishing Black Family. We didn’t think Mr. Moyer’s piece was about the Black family at all. It was about teenage pregnancy. And it showed only Black teenagers- overlooking completely the fact that the majority of pregnant teens are white.” Focusing on interviews with unwed Black teenage mothers and fathers in Newark, NJ, Moyer painted a dismal picture of the “Black Ghetto” with hyper-sexual Black teens, with little to no family values.
Height and the NCNW do not deny the conditions and realities that the investigation illustrated. Moyer’s program presented Black people, and Black teenagers and young adults more specifically, as a social pathology. In addition, the program offers better morals, self-restraint, and self-discipline as solutions. NCNW, on the other hand, acknowledged and assisted Black families and communities through the National Black Family Reunion. Height explains, “I knew we couldn’t counter Mr. Moyer’s documentary with mere words… We imagined an enormous, embracing family reunion that could reconnect people, bring together those who had advanced and those who had been left behind, reunite elders with youngsters and nuclear families with their relatives across the country.” NCNW did not simply want to write a response to the Moyers program or take to the airways criticizing and condemning the documentary. Instead, they decided to demonstrate what they sought to accomplish. That is, they wanted “to honor and re-create that sense of extended family and community responsibility.” Essentially, the NCNW reminded Black families and communities how to be there for each other, support each other, and love each other.
NCNW wanted an all-encompassing, nationwide Black Family Reunion to celebrate the Black family. It would serve as a rallying point for government agencies, private and public institutions, corporations, community-based organizations, and families working collaboratively on solutions to problems affecting Black communities across the country.
They hosted the first two-day Black Family Reunion on the second weekend of September in 1986 on the National Mall. During the two-day reunion, more than fifteen booths and tents offered information, free health screenings, information about job opportunities, an international arts and crafts marketplace, food vendors with a variety of soul food, Caribbean food, and other food options. In addition, there were celebrity appearances, R&B entertainers, and a Gospel concert. In this way, both socio-cultural as well as socio-political and economic approaches were embedded into the celebration to address familial and community needs. The social-cultural approaches addressed matters of human respect and dignity through the celebration and joy of Black culture. The socio-political and economic approaches addressed quality of life and material conditions.
Height recalls approximately two-hundred thousand people attended the first NCNW hosted Black Family Reunion with many indicating that they were happy to have something for Black families and communities that was not telling them that there was something wrong with them and over-emphasizing problems Black families and communities endure. According to Height, “We emphasized the crucial connection between the strength of black family structures and social and economic progress.” She continues, “So many people who attended the Black Family Reunion reminded us that when you know only that you have problems and do not realize your strengths, it’s almost impossible to deal with the problems. Yet, the black family has a history of demonstrating strength against the worst kind of oppression.” In other words, knowing the problems are the easy part. In fact, those facing those problems are expertly aware of the problems they are facing. What is needed however are solutions, support, encouragement, resources, and love.
After the success of the first Black Family Reunion, NCNW expanded to Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles reaching more than seven hundred thousand people. In 1988, they added Chicago, Cincinnati, and Memphis. By September of 1992, more than ten million people had attended the Black Family Reunion celebrations. Height asserts, “The Black Family Reunions awaken people to their rights, responsibilities, and opportunities. We have to lift people up and move them forward so they can conquer their feelings of powerlessness.” Instead of berating people with the problems and telling them what they are doing wrong, Black families and communities were informed, inspired, and encouraged. The love and impact of the National Black Family Reunions was felt economically, socially, culturally, politically, and educationally. The Black Family Reunion, according to Height, “have brought together not only families but generations. When young people come to a Black Family Reunion, they are exposed to the richness of our history. They get caught up in our music, theater, dance, and poetry. They begin to see what’s gone before them- and the enormous potential that lies ahead. We must keep working together to save our families and our children. We are not a problem people, we are people with problems, the Black Family Reunion has become the most significant family movement in black America today.”
Through the National Black Family Reunion, the NCNW illustrated the love and power of the Black family.
It brought and continues to bring multi-generational members of families together for a common purpose. NCNW’s commitment to Black families and communities and the legacy of the National Black Family Reunion is furthered through the publication of their The Black Family Reunion Cookbook. Ultimately, the National Black Family Reunion reveals, reminds, and reaffirms what Black people can accomplish through collaborative efforts and celebrations.
Dorothy Height, the NCNW, and the National Black Family Reunion provides a blueprint for addressing contemporary Black family and community concerns. The National Black Family Reunions reveal and demonstrate love and commitment. At the core of the NCNW and their decades of service is love which motivated, and continues to motivate, NCNW’s role in strengthening Black families and communities. Their efforts, in fact, reflect a reclamation of love, family, and community. As a Ugandan proverbs states, “A loving heart does not fail to help.” Here, it is the love that the NCNW had, and has, for Black families and communities that spurred them into action. To this end, strong families are the foundation of strong communities, and strong communities lead to a strong racial group. The NCNW’s National Black Family Reunion, then, drew upon this African American tradition to commemorate a half-century of service as well as to demonstrate “the promise of family restoration as a fundamental strategy for overcoming black poverty and underachievement.”
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