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Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change (W.E.B. Du Bois Lectures)

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Marian Wright Edelman (born 1939) is an American activist for the rights of children. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.

She writes in the Preface to this 1987 book, "This book describes the overall and comparative status of black and white children and families in America; the unacceptable human and public costs that result from widespread child and family poverty; our nation's failure to invest adequately and preventively in all our young---black and white, poor and middle class alike; the historical role of government in bolstering families---a tradition inadequately extended to our poorest and minority families; and the strong black tradition of self-help in a society unwilling to open doors for blacks as it did for others. I will explain why we need greater policy emphasis on preventing the poverty that makes children our poorest Americans and that threatens to produce what some label a permanent 'underclass'; call for immediate, comprehensive national campaigns to prevent teenage pregnancy, infant mortality, and early childhood deprivation as a means of long-term deficit reduction as well as child-survival strategies; and outline the need for and ingredients of more effective leadership at all levels of American society if we are to redirect misguided national priorities and remove the economic and social barriers that cripple millions of children and families and rob America of vitally needed human resources for the twenty-first century."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"We believe that the best way to help poor black children is to show that white children are similarly affected." (Pg. ix)
"It is important to identify why the proportion of out-of-wedlock teen births is rising. The cause among black teenagers is a drop in marriage rates, not an increase in birth rates." (Pg. 5)
"It is a problem because we no longer live in an America in which eighteen- and nineteen-year old men can earn enough to support a family... Meanwhile, young men, especially young black men, are increasingly unable to fulfill a traditional role as breadwinner and are less willing to accept their responsibilities as fathers." (Pg. 57)
"(I)t is necessary to struggle constantly to define and package this vision in small, actionable bites. A good children's issue, like any issue, must not only be simple but winnable." (Pg. 104)

Gave the book as a gift and the recipient was very happy to receive it.