Black Men Married to White Women: Perspectives from Qualitative Interviews and Social Work Practice Implications

Background and Purpose: Interracial and interethnic marriages account for over 10% of all marriages in the U.S. and have been rising for several decades. Younger generations are more likely to be intermarried (Barroso et al., 2020) with the proportion of newlywed couples who are intermarried now one-in-six (Livingston & Brown, 2017). Although couples and families have been focal points of research and practice, limited research has explored the recent experiences of individuals in interracial marriages (Skinner & Rae, 2019). Given the Black Lives Matter protests and four years of the Trump administration, there is increased attention on race relations. Intermarried couples must navigate the meaning of this attention for each other, their marriage, and their children. Black-White marriages are not the most frequent intermarriage but often draw the most attention, given the U.S. history of racism. Drawing on a thematic analysis of interviews with 11 White women married to Black men and interviews with 10 Black men married to White women, we explore both perspectives, discuss how they correlate, and offer implications for social work practice that emerged.

Methods: Surveys and Interviews with the 21 participants were conducted from 2020-2021 by MSW students in an advanced research class under the authors’ guidance. The 21 selected for analysis are part of a larger mixed-methods study of interracial and interethnic marriage. Participants were recruited through personal contacts and online platforms. The students received training in how to administer a survey and conduct a qualitative interview after completing IRB training. Following Bradley et al.’s, (2007) approach to grounded theory coding, each author on our bi-racial team read interviews and identified themes. The authors then discussed the genesis of the themes and how what each author discovered informed the other authors. The authors then returned to the interviews and coded using the agreed upon themes. They met again to resolve differences in what they had individually coded as themes.

Findings: From the analysis of the White women’s interviews, four themes emerged: 1. Their racial perspective taking, including sub-themes of White privilege, safety, and social justice as related to the 2020 protests; 2. Their patterns of communications; 3. Dealing with microaggressions, and 4. How children are raised. The separate analysis of the Black men’s interviews produced similar themes and included concerns about safety that varied greatly by context. Whereas the couple interaction might feel safe, interacting with in-laws and strangers might feel threatening. Concerns about the racial socialization and identification of their children as they grow up and needing to educate their wife about racial awareness (perspective taking) were also found.

Conclusion and Implications: By understanding the societal position and concerns of both partners, social workers can enhance conversations between them and within the various societal contexts in which they live. As the White women become more aware of the societal treatment of Black men, the Black men feel they need to do less educating about race which helps the couple navigate a range of contexts (including the racial socialization of their children) more comfortably.