“Second wave feminism taught women that femininity was weak, masculinity was toxic, marriage was oppressive, the home was a prison, and children are a burden.” — Delano Squires

Sixty years ago, Daniel Patrick Moynihan published The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, which was immediately attacked by the left as victim-blaming and by the right as an admission of state responsibility. In 1965, 25% of black children were born to unmarried parents. Today the figure is 70%. So is the black American family vanishing? Delano Squires — director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing at the Heritage Foundation — certainly thinks so. In his controversial new book, The Vanishing Black Family, Squires argues that “welfare” and “feminism” have made black marriage optional and children vulnerable.

Squires identifies what he calls the “sinister six” forces that have dismantled the black family: slavery’s legacy, the welfare state, second wave feminism, popular culture, the failure of the black church, and the indifference of black progressive leadership. Perhaps his most controversial claim is that the second wave feminism of Betty Friedan did specific damage in black communities by weakening the social norms that survived slavery and Jim Crow.

His prescription is a Heritage Foundation-style free market revolution led by black institutions rather than by Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s federal government. The church, HBCUs and black media should all embrace education, work, marriage and family. Give her a ring before she gives you a baby, Squires advises young black men. But leave any Betty Friedan books off the wedding gift list.

Five Takeaways

• From 25% to 70%. In 1965: 25% of black children born to unmarried parents. Today: 70%. National average: 40%. Only 33% of black adults are married, compared to 63% of Asians. The Moynihan consensus has been largely abandoned by black progressive leadership.

• Second Wave Feminism. Squires’ most contested claim. Betty Friedan: the home as a comfortable concentration camp. Gloria Steinem: married women as hostesses. Squires: this taught women femininity was weak, masculinity toxic, marriage oppressive, children a burden. He argues this did specific damage in communities already weakened by slavery and segregation.

• The Success Sequence. Finish school, get a job, get married, then have children. In that order. Chances of poverty: 3%. Give her a ring before she gives you a baby. 90% of the required change has to happen in the culture, led by black institutions: church, HBCUs, media.

• Black Leadership’s Failure. Far more invested in retaking the White House than rebuilding the black family. The institutions of black civil society have collectively failed to make family formation a priority.

• The Cornerstone vs the Capstone Marriage. Women naturally seek partners who match or exceed their social status. The higher her earnings, the smaller her pool. Median age of first marriage: 31 and 29 today vs 24 and 22 in 1980. Build together young — the cornerstone marriage — rather than wait until all individual goals are achieved.

About the Guest

Delano Squires is the director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing at the Heritage Foundation and the author of The Vanishing Black Family (Sentinel/Penguin Random House, June 16, 2026).

References

The Vanishing Black Family by Delano Squires (Sentinel/PRH, June 16, 2026): penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763688/the-vanishing-black-family-by-delano-squires
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, The Negro Family: The Case for National Action (1965)
Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963)

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:

00:00:31 Moynihan sixty years on
00:01:47 From 25% to 70%
00:03:50 Marriage rates by race
00:04:42 Cultural norms and the Asian comparison
00:07:54 Second wave feminism
00:08:22 Betty Friedan: the comfortable concentration camp
00:44:04 The prescription: cultural revolution
00:47:33 Give her a ring before she gives you a baby
00:47:47 Advice to ambitious black women
00:50:55 Conclusion