The Task is Far from Completed: Double Jeopardy and Older African Americans

Soc Work Public Health. 2019;34(1):122-133. doi: 10.1080/19371918.2018.1562398. Epub 2019 Jan 13.

Abstract

The National Urban League released a seminal report on the state of older African Americans in 1964. This report titled Double Jeopardy: The Older Negro in America Today presented data that documented the hardships faced by African Americans as they aged in a society that marginalized them. Using critical race theory (CRT), this article reviews the report and addresses the contemporary state of African Americans. It specifically focuses on income, education, poverty, and health status. The article also includes the scholarship of seminal scholars on the Black aged as context. It ends with policy implications that address changes that will continue to improve quality of life for older African Americans.

Keywords: African American aged; National Urban League; critical race theory; double jeopardy.

Publication types

  • Video-Audio Media

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Black or African American / statistics & numerical data*
  • Educational Status
  • Female
  • Health Status
  • Humans
  • Income / statistics & numerical data
  • Male
  • Poverty / ethnology
  • Quality of Life
  • Social Theory*
  • United States