Shifting the focus from intervention with problem populations, this book targets the everyday socialization of African American children. African American Children is a comprehensive exploration of historical and contemporary patterns of parenting in black families. Historically, it focuses on how slavery, race, the racial caste system, and the African American culture influenced the ways African Americans parented their children. This series of social forces seriously circumscribed the ability of African Americans to conform to the ideologies about the nature of children and the roles of parents that began to evolve in the early 20th century. In the context of growing diversity, Shirley A. Hill examines the work that African American parents do in raising their children and explores general child socialization patterns as well as parenting issues and challenges. Providing an analysis of the views, philosophies, and parenting strategies of parents from a variety of social class backgrounds, African American Children combines qualitative and quantitative data collected to examine a broad overview of current theoretical debates about African American families as they relate to child socialization. Topics include discipline strategies, sexual socialization, teen sexuality, self-esteem, redefining physical attractiveness, gender roles, and the role of the extended family and community. This book is an ideal supplemental text for advanced students in child development, family studies, sociology of the family, as well as students in ethnic studies, multicultural counseling, or gender studies.