"'Until Distance'—or, as One Black Minister Bluntly Put It, 'the White Man'—'Do Us Part'"

"Why does the ugly resuscitation of the myth of the happy slave family matter? Because it is part of a broad and deliberate amnesia, like the misleading assertion by Sarah Palin that the founders were antislavery and the skipping of the 'three-fifths' clause during a Republican reading of the Constitution on the House floor. The oft-repeated historical fictions about black families only prove how politically useful and resilient they continue to be in a so-called post-racial society. Refusing to be honest about how racial inequality has burdened our shared history and continues to shape our society will not get us to that post-racial vision."

In The New York Times, Tera W. Hunter explains the conditions of marriage during slavery.