¶ … Fatherhood in America: A History, By Robert Griswold to explain which school of thought he belongs to and what was the most important characteristic of this branch of historians. The book focuses on family life during slavery era and the author belongs to the Revisionist school in this beliefs. This is clear from the claims he makes about presence of stable and strong family life during slavery era. Revisionist historians were vehemently opposed to the institution of slavery and had no positive views on this issue. But they refused to associate slavery with immorality or break-up of traditional values. In other words, while they believed that slavery was something extremely unfortunate, they were not willing to hold blacks responsible for it. Historians like Robert Griswold argue that slavery did not hurt family life at all and any instance of the same is directly connected with joblessness and racism that existed in the country. Revisionists have a long history and they first appeared in 1930s after the publication of some important works on family life during slavery era. These works including William E.B. Du Bois' The Negro American Family, and E. Franklin Frazier's The Negro Family in the United States blamed slavery for destroying family life among African-American community. The Revisionists attacked these claims with a vengeance and since then, they have been following the same belief arguing that even during slavery, family life among slaves was strong and stable. Griswold claims that during slavery era, "marriages were remarkably stable" and "the great majority of slave families were headed by two parents." He further adds that during these times, fathers in slave families "played a vital role in black family life." He also claims that this family system was sop strong that it remained intact during the Jim Crow period too. If there was a break-up of traditional system it was mainly due to unemployment and racism when fathers were forced "to leave their families to find work." Robert Griswold thus belongs to the Revisionist school of thought that originated in 1930-40s and has proved to be one of the most enduring branches of historians.
REFERENCE
1) Robert Griswold, Fatherhood in America: A History, 1993
