by Lisabritt Solsky, VP Strategy & Corporate Development at Granite State Independent Living and NHPHA Board Member
The NHPHA has committed to centering equity in its current platform. As such, recognition and careful consideration of Black History Month is merited. This year’s theme is The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), which founded Black History Month 95 years ago, notes, “Not only are individual black families diasporic, but Africa and the diaspora itself have been long portrayed as the black family at large. While the role of the black family has been described by some as a microcosm of the entire race, its complexity as the ‘foundation’ of African American life and history can be seen in numerous debates over how to represent its meaning and typicality from a historical perspective—as slave or free, as patriarchal or matriarchal/matrifocal, as single-headed or dual-headed household, as extended or nuclear, as fictive kin or blood lineage, as legal or common law, and as black or interracial, etc. Variation appears, as well, in discussions on the nature and impact of parenting, childhood, marriage, gender norms, sexuality, and incarceration. The family offers a rich tapestry of images for exploring the African American past and present.”