Women once saw living single as a transitional period--singles marked time till they found "the one." But now marriage is the transitional stage, connecting one unmarried period of life to another. In I Didn't Work This Hard Just to Get Married, through lively and revealing interviews with women from various walks of life, Nika C. Beamon explores the challenges facing single black women who defy expectations. They candidly discuss aging without a man and reevaluate dating, single homeownership, career, children, and caring for aged parents. The book speaks directly to the black woman's experience, addressing challenges such as income discrepancies between genders, the high rate of male incarceration, and the Baby Mama Syndrome. Written in the best tradition of women talking to women, and girlfriend to girlfriend, the book delivers tales of lessons learned, hard times and good times, told by women who found ways to achieve their dreams by defying convention.