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Graph that depicts percent of white & non-white children who live in broken homes in the US, in urban, rural nonfarm, and rural farm places.
A graph from the Moynihan Report claiming that "One third of nonwhite children live in broken homes."

The "Moynihan Report," which vilifies single Black mothers as the root cause of Black poverty, is released.

1965

RAC
POV
A graph from the Moynihan Report claiming that "One third of nonwhite children live in broken homes."

Daniel Moynihan is hired by the Johnson administration as part of the War on Poverty and releases the The Negro Family: The Case For National Action. It is commonly known as the Moynihan Report.

In this period of structural change sparked by the Civil Rights Act, the Moynihan Report is a regressive development as it blames Black poverty not on structural racism but on the Black family structure.

In particular, Moynihan puts the blame and shame of systemic poverty on the number of Black single mothers, while never once mentioning systemic racism and classism.

The report is particularly influential in shaping the War on Poverty's focus on individual change through programs such as vocational training, rather than systemic change.