Noun, Plural, Fam-i-lies
by Naeemah Jackson a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not: the traditional family a social unit consisting of one or more adults together with the children they care for: a single-parent family the children of one person or one couple collectively: the spouse and children of one person: any group of people closely related by blood or marriage, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins: So, what is your personal definition of family? Who is considered “family?” to you? There’s the traditional family unit: mother, father, children that Boomers grew up with while glued to the television watching June Cleaver in “Leave it to Beaver;” clad in her ever-present billowy dress, lovely apron, pearls, and vacuuming in high heels. Then we saw Donna Reed, in “The Donna Reed Show;” again, elegantly dressed and cleaning in high heels. Can’t forget “Father Knows Best.” But then things changed. Enter the 70’s, the ’80s, and ’90s, where families portrayed on television broke the 50’s mold. From blended families as in the ”Brady Bunch,” irreverent families as in “Married with Children,” and “The Conners,” taboo-breaking families like “Archie Bunker and All in the Family,” and of course ground breaking shows like “Good Times” and “The Huxtables,” which portrayed Black families from two different socio-economic worlds. One living in the projects, and one with a father who is a medical doctor, and