Unpacking the Racist Legacy of TANF: How Anti-Black Racism Shapes Welfare Policy

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Part One 

Introduction

Economic security programs are intended to be a lifeline for families struggling to make ends meet, yet the design features influenced by anti-Black racism and sexism have created a system of support that falls woefully short, disproportionately harming Black families and other families of color. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the primary program for providing cash assistance to families with children during times of economic hardship, stands as a stark example of a system deeply rooted in racist ideas and policies that strip Black women of their dignity.

This paper, the first in a series on TANF and race, embarks on a journey through history, revealing over a century of false and harmful narratives and paternalistic policies. These narratives, including the unfounded belief that Black women are unfit mothers, have been used to control Black women's behavior and compel their labor. The legacy of these ideas and policies still influences TANF today.

Defining Key Terms

Before we delve deeper into the history and impact of TANF, it's essential to define key terms that describe policies perpetuating or dismantling racism:

1. Antiracist Policy: Any policy that actively promotes or maintains racial equality, including by reversing the effects of racist policies. Antiracism recognizes racist policies, not just racist ideas, as a root cause of racial inequality.

2. Racist Idea: Any idea that regards one racial or ethnic group as superior or inferior to another in any way. Racist ideas are often created to justify and uphold racist policies.

3. Racist Policy:Any policy or practice, whether explicitly stated or not, that creates or sustains racial disparities in access to public assistance, housing, goods and services, opportunity, and well-being.

4. White Supremacy:An ideology that asserts the superiority of white people and the ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions of white people over People of Color and their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions. White supremacy is pervasive in institutional and cultural assumptions that assign value based on race.

The "Black Women Best" (BWB) framework, developed by Janelle Jones, Chief Economist at the Department of Labor, argues that for our economy to truly thrive, it must work for Black women—the group that has historically been among the most excluded and exploited. Consistent with this framework, redesigning TANF to center the needs of Black women and families, offering genuine assistance to families struggling to afford basic necessities, and providing meaningful opportunities for skill development and quality employment would better serve families of all races and ethnicities, improving child outcomes and reducing hardship.

A History Rooted in Racist Ideas and Policies:

Federal policymakers introduced TANF in 1996, ostensibly promising to help families lift themselves out of poverty through work. However, the debate surrounding the 1996 law often centered around Black mothers, who were often portrayed as needing a "stick" to compel them to be responsible and leave the welfare program. TANF's stringent work requirements and arbitrary time limits disproportionately affected Black and other families of color. Black children were more likely than white children to reside in states with the lowest benefits and the least accessible program. In the decade following TANF's implementation, the program became less effective at preventing children from falling into deep poverty, particularly Black and Latinx children.

TANF's rules echo those dating back to early 20th-century cash assistance programs, inheriting the anti-Black racism rooted in the history of welfare. Throughout the history of cash assistance, policymakers and public figures have used racist justifications and stereotypes to question Black women's reproductive choices, compel Black women to work in exploitative conditions, and control, demean, and penalize Black women receiving cash assistance. TANF's design perpetuated these attitudes, sometimes even reinforcing them through stricter work requirements and increased state control over program rules.

A Historical Lens: Slavery and Jim Crow:

To understand the roots of TANF's embedded racism, we must trace it back to the darkest chapters in American history: slavery and Jim Crow. These periods laid the foundation for economic, reproductive, and behavioral control policies that continued into later cash assistance programs, including TANF. White enslavers, driven by the false belief in the inherent inferiority of Black people, employed forced reproduction and labor to exploit, control, and punish enslaved Black women while maximizing economic returns. Even after emancipation, white policymakers and employers continued to exert control over when and where many Black people worked.

Sharecropping, a system implemented by white landowners, perpetuated debt among Black workers, which their meager earnings could rarely pay off. Vagrancy laws and other policies criminalized Black people, forcing many into involuntary servitude and other forms of exploitative labor.

The "Deserving" vs. "Undeserving" Families:

The notion of deservingness became a defining aspect of cash assistance programs, dating back to mothers' pensions in the early 20th century. These state and local programs aimed to provide assistance to children living with single mothers in the absence of a male breadwinner. However, the original proponents of these programs often focused on aiding white children of widowed mothers while excluding children of unwed or Black mothers. Federal policymakers preserved states' and localities' discretion over these programs, allowing them to discriminate against Black and brown families.

Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) and the South:

The introduction of the Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) program in 1935 was a pivotal moment. However, Southern members of Congress insisted that state and local officials retain control over ADC eligibility and benefit levels, which perpetuated an economic system reliant on low-wage Black workers in the South and Latinx workers in the Southwest. This control allowed states to exclude many Black families from ADC.

Exclusion and Punitive Policies:

The ADC program, which later became Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), was initially limited in its reach among Black families, especially in the South. Some states introduced conduct- or morals-based eligibility policies in the 1940s, targeting Black and unmarried mothers. For instance, Louisiana's policy, which denied assistance to children if their mothers were deemed "unsuitable" due to sexual activity outside marriage, disproportionately affected Black families.

Work Requirements and Racist Narratives:

Despite federal protections for AFDC eligibility, harmful narratives about Black single mothers emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. Negative media coverage depicting waste, fraud, or abuse in public assistance programs, often accompanied by images of Black individuals, fueled stereotypes about Black single mothers as irresponsible and unwilling to work, having large families to receive cash assistance. Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan's controversial report on Black families and presidential candidate Ronald Reagan's attacks on "welfare queens" reinforced these narratives.

The Personal Responsibility Era:

The 1980s and 1990s marked a return to greater state control over cash assistance and an emphasis on "personal responsibility." Racist narratives about Black women persisted, with conservative scholars asserting that government assistance reinforced a "culture of poverty." These scholars proposed frameworks centering work, regardless of job availability or wages, to address poverty. The era saw major cuts to AFDC under the Reagan Administration and an expansion of state flexibility to experiment with changes in AFDC programs through waivers during the Clinton Administration.

The Birth of TANF:

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, signed by President Bill Clinton, replaced AFDC with the TANF block grant, erasing federal eligibility rules and ending families' entitlement to cash assistance. TANF incorporated harsh work requirements and granted states significant control over spending, incentivizing states to make access to aid difficult and easy for families to lose assistance.

TANF's Impact on Black Families:

TANF's inherent racism and state autonomy have led to a dwindling cash assistance program for all families, with Black families experiencing a disproportionate impact. A quarter century after TANF's inception, this already low-benefit program has further diminished in generosity and reach. In 1996, 68 families with children received benefits for every 100 families in poverty. By 2019, that figure dropped to 23, with 14 states reaching 10 or fewer. Black children are the most likely to live in states with the lowest benefits and programs reaching the fewest families in need.

The history of TANF is intertwined with a legacy of racism, from slavery and Jim Crow to narratives about Black single mothers. Understanding this history is crucial in advocating for policy changes that dismantle these racist structures. To create a welfare system that genuinely serves all families, it must be designed with the recognition that Black women and families, who have been historically excluded and exploited, deserve better. TANF must be reimagined to center the needs of Black women and offer effective support to all families facing economic hardship, regardless of their race or ethnicity. By acknowledging this history and striving for antiracist policies, we can pave the way for a more equitable future.