black fatherhood
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Fences Reminds Me That Loving My Son Means Rejecting Fatherhood
“Your firstborn son gots to be a junior,” my barber ordered. In the weeks before my son’s birth, the person who regularly gave me a razor lining insisted that I bestow my full name on my child. Nodding men in the shop unanimously agreed. “Man, you’ve got a great name,” he added, meaning that I…
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Queen Sugar Hits This Dad Right in the Feels
I love Queen Sugar. Let’s start there. I’d take Queen Sugar on a $200 date, juju on the beat with it, and cook greens, beans, tomatoes and potatoes just so it would have something to take home in case it got hungry. For those who aren’t familiar, the Ava DuVernay-helmed show is the story of…
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What My Father and Juneteenth Taught Me About Having ‘Expectations’
I wouldn’t know Juneteenth without my father. He’s the Texan. He grew up celebrating the holiday that started on June 19, 1865, when slaves on Galveston Island, Texas, finally learned they’d been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation two years prior. Even though he now lived in St. Louis, he’d always make the same jokey reference…
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Celebrating Black Fatherhood With #7DaysOfBlackDads
Father’s Day is steadily approaching, and it’s a holiday that deserves to be celebrated boldly and proudly. Black fathers are often maligned (go ahead, Google “black father” and see what results you get) in the media, even though we see, experience and all know some amazing men who nurture, love and cherish their children. We want…