Strong bonds the goal of local and national movemen

About 70 percent of African-American women do not live with a spouse, the Census Bureau says. That's the direction in which Monica Blackwell-Harper once saw herself headed.

Although she wanted children, "I didn't want to get married," the 35-year-old from Forest Park says. "I didn't understand why people would (marry). It seemed like a bad idea, because in my circle, it seemed like everybody broke up." That included her parents, who divorced before she entered grade school.