I love you but the disparity in 1962 was 20 times higher illegitimacy rates for blacks than whites
Now the black rate is only 4 times that of whites
Because whites have grown less bound by marriage
I did admit that I too knejerk about race and other minorities
It’s gotten ingrained in nearly all of us and we need to shake it
If you are interested, Thomas Sowell wrote an article that takes from what I read in his book Black Rednecks and White Liberals"
(Click here to read his article)
The key passage from it: "...The results of welfare policies discouraging marriage and family were dramatic, as out-of-wedlock birthrates skyrocketed among all demographic groups in the U.S., but most notably African Americans. In the mid-1960s, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was scarcely 3% for whites, 7.7% for Americans overall, and 24.5% among blacks. By 1976, those figures had risen to nearly 10% for whites, 24.7% for Americans as a whole, and 50.3% for blacks specifically. And today, the numbers stand at 29% for whites, 41% for the nation overall, and 73% for blacks. In other words, the entire country is moving rapidly in the wrong direction, but blacks in particular have reached a point of veritable catastrophe..."
So while the out of wedlock rate was still higher for blacks, it is nothing like it is today, and it went up sharply in the sixties...I don't think that is coincidental.
And you are correct, the disparity between black and white illegitimacy rates has dropped dramatically, and in a bad way. I blame that on culture in general, and the media in particular.