• Black Marriage Day was Sunday
• Unmarried births a problem in the black community
• Wedded Bliss Foundation is leading the fight for black marriage.

This past Sunday more than 300 cities nationwide celebrated a little-known holiday. Black Marriage Day, created by Wedded Bliss Foundation founder Nisa Islam Muhammed, is a holiday set aside to encourage marriage in the black community, particularly among younger black people.

It is always celebrated on the fourth Sunday in March. This year's theme was First Comes Love: Guiding our Youth to Marriage.

"It was a great success. It is particularly important to encourage and guide our youth marriage. The black community needs stronger family structures," Muhammed said.

The holiday was created in response to a growing problem in the black community. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 69.9 percent of all African-American births are to unmarried women. In contrast, that number is 25.3 percent for non-Hispanic white women, 16.2 percent for Asian and Pacific Islanders, and 48 percent for Hispanic women.

This is the seventh year of Black Marriage Day, and its focus this year was on youth. As of 2005, birth rates for unmarried black women between the ages of 20 and 29 reached the highest they've ever been at more than 70 per 1,000 unmarried women.

"It's a trend that needs to stop," Muhammed said. "We can't sit back and do nothing."

The Wedded Bliss Foundation, located in Washington D.C., works with cities, organizations and people nationwide to put together the holiday. They encourage people to branch out on their own in an effort to encourage marriage in the black community.

Not everyone believes that encouraging black marriage is the key to fixing the problem.

"What makes it a problem is class," said Roberta Coles, associate professor in the department of social and cultural sciences at Marquette. "[Births among unmarried women] frequently overlaps with poverty."

Coles said the holiday "couldn't hurt," but also believes the problem runs deeper than just marriage itself.

"It's not a good idea to promote marriage for the sake of marriage," Coles said. "Marriage rates will go up when black men and women, but men in particular, get better jobs."

Krnandini Dasi co-organized a Black Marriage Day event last year in Cleveland.

"We are trying to strengthen black families," Dasi said. "We strive to showcase those couples in strong marriages as a guide to others."

Across the country, similar events were held. At the event in Cleveland, couples renewed their vows.

"Marriage is sometimes thought of as not as important these days," Dasi said. "But it's a God-given institution that strengthens us."

The events include film festivals celebrating marriage in the black community, as well as the ability to induct couples into the Black Marriage Day Marriage Hall of Fame.

"We are growing fast," Muhammed said. "But so is the problem we are fighting. We must stay strong and encourage others to do so as well."