Presented by the University of Buffalo Office of Continuing Education, School of Social Work 

Description: During the Civil Rights Movement, Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan authored The Negro Family: The Case for National Action. His 1965 report drew national attention to racial inequality and poverty, while controversially characterizing challenges in Black communities as rooted in family instability. Sixty years later, the UB School of Social Work invites you to reflect on the report’s legacy.

Keith A. Alford, PhD, dean of the School of Social Work, will moderate a panel exploring the report’s historical context, its influence on social welfare, education, urbanization, stereotypes, and health inequities, and its lasting impact on social work with Black families. Attendees will gain tools to apply culturally responsive, anti-racist frameworks.
Learning Objectives: Analyze the historical context, major arguments, and controversies of the Moynihan Report; Evaluate the Moynihan Report’s influence on U.S. social policy and public perceptions of Black families; Identify the ways in which narratives from the Moynihan Report continue to shape structural inequities and inform contemporary challenges in social welfare, education, urbanization, identity perceptions, health inequities, and policy.