Holiday Calendar

Black Marriage Day

Next celebratedFriday, March 26, 2027

An Essence reporter phoned Nisa Islam Muhammad to ask when Black Marriage Day fell, and she had not picked a date yet. She opened a calendar, ruled out January and February, and chose the fourth Sunday in March.

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Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEFourth Sunday in March
OBSERVED INUnited States
CATEGORYCulture
SUBCATEGORYBlack History
ORIGIN

Individual Initiative

FOUNDING ENTITY
Nisa Islam Muhammad
FIRST OBSERVED
2003
“The Wedded Bliss Foundation announced the first annual Black Marriage Day for Sunday, March 23, 2003. Over 30 cities took part.
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

Announced in a magazine before it existed.

Nisa Islam Muhammad created Black Marriage Day through her Washington, D.C. nonprofit, the Wedded Bliss Foundation, which announced the first annual observance for Sunday, March 23, 2003. Organizers reported events in over 30 cities that first year.

Read Wedded Bliss Foundation's accountvia Wedded Bliss Foundation
INTRO

A reporter's question set the date before the day existed

Black Marriage Day exists because a magazine reporter called to ask a question its founder had not answered yet. Nisa Islam Muhammad had raised the idea of such a day in a conference workshop and then let it go. An Essence reporter who had been sitting in that room phoned about a month later and asked what the date was.

She said she would call back, hung up, and opened a calendar. January sat too close to New Year's, and February already belonged to Black History Month. Spring was crowded with Easter and Mother's Day, so she landed on March.

She picked the fourth Sunday, put up a website, and rang the reporter back with an answer. That improvised choice has held for more than two decades. The Wedded Bliss Foundation now counts more than 300 communities marking the day.

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ORIGINS

Black Marriage Day history

INTRODUCTION

The assumption underneath the day is that Black America has always struggled to marry. A U.S. Census Bureau working paper counted the people who reached age 35 without ever marrying, and found something closer to the reverse.

Its data runs back to 1890. Black men were less often never married than white men until 1960. Black women held the same edge until 1970.

CHAPTER 01

Nobody has settled why

The turning point came in 1980. The paper's authors decline to explain it. They write that their data cannot address whether cultural or structural forces account for the change, and that researchers stay split between the two.

The campaign that became Black Marriage Day framed its purpose elsewhere. Its first FAQ said the news told one side of the story, and that it wanted to tell the other.

CHAPTER 02

A conference came before the holiday

Nisa Islam Muhammad was a staff writer at The Final Call when she went looking for a group that promoted marriage to Black Americans. She could not find one, so she started one.

In 2001 she and Jennifer A. Muhammad convened a Washington, D.C. conference called Reviving Marriage in the Black Community. It drew more than 200 singles and couples. That conference started the Wedded Bliss Foundation.

CHAPTER 03

Thirty cities, one weekend

The first observance landed on Sunday, March 23, 2003. Local pastors, mosques and community groups read about the date in Essence and built something themselves. Events ran in over 30 cities, from Atlanta to Belleville, Illinois.

In Milwaukee, Balm in Gilead Church for All People honored a newlywed couple alongside one married more than 41 years. The workshop closed with vow renewals, a song and cake. In Memphis, almost 100 people stood on a Saturday evening and recited the Black Marriage Day Pledge in unison.

TIMELINE

Timeline

A marriage conference in Washington

Nisa Islam Muhammad and Jennifer A. Muhammad convened Reviving Marriage in the Black Community, drawing more than 200 people.

Essence puts a date in print

A short piece in the November issue announced the coming day, and the campaign's website went up before the year ended.

First Black Marriage Day

Sunday, March 23 brought events in over 30 cities, from church workshops to mass vow renewals.

Black Enterprise cosponsors year two

The second observance ran under the theme Celebrating the Joy, backed by a business magazine and a media kit organizers could buy.

CNN features the foundation

The Wedded Bliss Foundation's work was featured on CNN's Black in America 2.

Ms. Magazine publishes a critique

Scholar Ebony A. Utley argued the campaign glossed over the history and economics of Black marriage.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love Black Marriage Day

AUDIENCE

A marriage holiday built largely for people who are not married.

The founder describes the day as a chance for young people in communities where marriage is uncommon to hear from couples who are glad to be married. That framing has stayed constant since the campaign's first year.

CHURCHES

The day lives in congregations, not city halls

Reporting on the 2025 observance found the day's celebrations concentrated in Black churches. The format has also stretched into a Black Marriage Week and a Black Marriage Expo.

DEBATE

The observance has been argued over in print

Writing in Ms. Magazine in 2010, Ebony A. Utley supported Black marriage but called the campaign's silence on same-sex marriage deafening. The founder had stated in 2004 that her foundation holds marriage to be between a man and a woman.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about Black Marriage Day

Federal money reached the foundation twice

The Administration for Children and Families awarded the Wedded Bliss Foundation $49,505 in 2005 and $96,400 in 2006, and the HHS grant database lists no other award to it.

Inducted couples ended up in an airport

A Dallas organization called Anthem commissioned portraits of long-married couples captioned with their secrets, displayed them at City Hall, then moved the exhibit to Dallas Love Field.

The first toolkit included a $10 CD

Organizers could download a two-page marriage fact sheet and a discounted Black Enterprise subscription form, plus an order slip for a 45-minute audio CD.

A Tyler Perry film was an official partner

In 2010 the observance was tied to Why Did I Get Married Too, a partnership one critic used to argue the campaign presented a rosy view of class.

Its founder is now a Howard University dean

Dr. Nisa Muhammad is Assistant Dean for Religious Life at Howard University's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel, where she advises the Muslim Students Association.

I'm starting a revolution for love.
Nisa Islam MuhammadFounder and CEO, Wedded Bliss Foundation
It should be every day. It's not only about married people but applies to everyone.
Angel MuhammadParticipant, Baltimore seminar, 2003

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate Black Marriage Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Film the answer to the campaign's question

Organizers want short videos on what your greatest joy in marriage is and how you get through the hard parts. The 2026 call asked for clips posted between March 20 and March 24.

HONOR

Honor the longest marriage in the room

Organizers have asked communities since the second observance to recognize their longtime married couples. One Washington church inducts couples married forty years or more.

READ

Read the Black Marriage Day Pledge with your spouse

The foundation has kept one option small enough for a single household, which is to sit down together and read the pledge aloud. It has been in the organizer toolkit since the first year.

ASK

Ask a pastor to make marriage the sermon

Organizers put that request to congregations in their second year. They listed it alongside a suggestion to hold a seminar for people who are not married.

ATTEND

Attend a retreat or a vow renewal service

Workshops, conferences and vow renewals have been the day's standard shape for years. A 2025 Atlanta retreat recognized the longest marriages in the room and the newest ones too.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know Black Marriage Day?

1 / 8

Which magazine's reporter prompted the founder to choose a date?

Answer

It falls on the fourth Sunday in March, so the calendar date moves every year. In 2026 that is March 22.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

15sources
8primary records
13independently dated
Primary records
Wedded Bliss Foundation2026
Black Marriage Day
The organizers' own account of the day's 2003 start and its growth since.
View source
Wedded Bliss Foundation2002-12
Black Marriage Day home page, archived December 2002
The pre-launch invitation to the first annual Black Marriage Day on March 23, 2003.
View source
Wedded Bliss Foundation2003-02
About Us, archived February 2003
How the foundation began in 2001 with a Washington marriage conference.
View source
Wedded Bliss Foundation2003-02
Black Marriage Day FAQs, archived February 2003
The campaign's own first-year statement of what the day is for.
View source
Wedded Bliss Foundation2004-02
Black Marriage Day home page, archived March 2004
The second annual observance, its Black Enterprise cosponsorship and its organizer media kit.
View source
U.S. Census Bureau2012
Historical Marriage Trends from 1890-2010: A Focus on Race Differences
Decennial census data on who had never married by age 35 and 45, by race.
View source
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services2026
TAGGS recipient detail: Wedded Bliss Foundation, Inc.
The foundation's full federal grant record with award numbers and amounts.
View source
Howard University
Nisa Muhammad, Howard Profiles
The founder's current post as Assistant Dean for Religious Life.
View source
Additional coverage
Final Call2003-04
Celebrating Black Marriage
City-by-city reporting on the first observance, with named organizers and participants.
View source
BlackandMarriedWithKids.com
Interview with Nisa Muhammad, Founder of Black Marriage Day
The founder describes choosing the fourth Sunday of March during a phone call.
View source
HuffPost2012
Why Black Marriage Day?
A second retelling of that phone call, from an interview with the founder.
View source
Ms. Magazine2010-03
The Problem with Black Marriage Day
Scholar Ebony A. Utley's published critique of the campaign's framing.
View source
The Federalist2025-03
'Black Marriage Day' Highlights The Most Powerful Remedy For Strengthening Black Families
Coverage of the 2025 observance, including an Atlanta retreat and a current quote from the founder.
View source
Final Call2020-03
Black Marriage Day 2020: A celebration of love and commitment
The 2020 observance, its theme and the foundation's count of participating communities.
View source
theGrio2022-02
Have you heard of Black Love Day?
The separate February 13 observance founded in 1993 by Ayo Handy-Kendi.
View source
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