Topics for African-American Teen Romance?

I know it hasn’t come up for some time, but how about sickle cell anemia? Maybe you could make it a story from the past when the disease was prevalent. Maybe you could make it a story from the present where it has resurged somewhere. Maybe you could make it a story from the future where it mutates and threatens to wipe an entire race out. You could make your young lovers pioneers in the field in any circumstance, which brings them closer. Then you could have a corporation, or a enemy race, or even aliens battle the attempt to treat/cure the disease.

If it is present day, why would it be different than a white teen couple?

@JLeslie I was thinking this may be in reference to MLK day.

@chyna I myself recently asked a question about how Africans Americans feel about being American. So, I admit the African American experience can be different than the white experience. But, without details of where the teens are growing up, or what the OP might be leaning towards, my mind just goes to teens growing up, regardless of race. I also have a bias, I just realized as I write this, that I like the idea of black people representing themselves as mainstream – think Cosby.

Are the teens together? ‘Cause they each be in an interracial relationship and lots of twists can happen there.

You can do a story (although not just a story that has to do with African Americans) about a teenage romance where children from well to do neighborhoods go to school with children from the getto. A modern twist on Romeo and Juliet.
Girls family doesn’t want the girl to date the boy because they feel his family has lost their roots in the pursuit of wealth.
Twist, he does everything to be with her and convince her family that he is a good match. They have a go between friend who is white and falls in love with her and her with him.
They run away and get married and the rich kid is left with egg on his face and a broken heart.
He thought changing himself would assure her love but she was never looking for him to change.
Moral of the story is a person should be who they are because changing yourself can possible cost you the person you where hoping to win over.
It also addresses biases that are present in races. You can also add something about prejudices about lighter skin vs. darker skin.

A mystery is always interesting, no matter whether the subjects are black or white or other. Maybe the teens can discover that something really bad, good, or interesting or highly unlikely happened to one of their relatives and then there is some kind of irony revolving around the discovery. Maybe they find this out while helping to repair some houses with the organization Habitat for Humanity down in New Orleans. Maybe they find something behind the wall or in the basement at a house that they are helping to fix. Maybe one half of the couple wasn’t really interested in fixing houses in the first place, but then learns a valuable lesson somewhere down the line.

Or maybe the couple, although of the same race, comes from very different backgrounds. One from Mississipi and the other from New York. One has an intact family unit, the other does not. One has a parent in the military, the other in high fashion. One has aspirations of being a writer, the other of being a rap star. One has been affected by death and disease, one is studying to be a nurse or a doctor or a paramedic.

Or one half of the couple looks more like a white person and the other person is a very dark skinned black. What are the experiences and ramifications of both of those situations? Maybe one half of the couple assumes that they might one day become president, like Obama and the other half can’t accept the idea or has a lot of reasons for why that can’t happen. Maybe both of them are proven wrong, but in ways that they never thought of before.

Good luck. I can’t wait to hear what story line you choose.