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sheshe2

(83,341 posts)
Fri Mar 27, 2015, 06:58 PM Mar 2015

A New Image of Black Fatherhood [PHOTOS]



This photo essay is part of Life Cycles of Inequity: A Colorlines Series on Black Men. In this installment, we explore and challenge the notion that black families face a crisis of fatherhood. The installment includes a dispatch from Baltimore, in which four dads challenge the easy assumption that all children of unwed mothers have absent fathers.

In June of 2013 I started photographing black men and their children and created The Fatherhood Project, the online home for photos that capture them in ordinary moments. A single dad helping his daughter with math homework during a break at work. A dad teaching his daughter how to walk as they wait to see a doctor. A father and son chilling on a stoop.

Why photograph black men and their children? What’s extraordinary about these subjects?

For starters, black men taking care of our children is, on some level, revolutionary—and a form of resistance to the legacies of laws and other tools used to hinder our ability to parent. During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, for example, fathers were routinely separated from their children as family members were sold. And currently, disproportionately and consistently high incarceration and unemployment rates for black men have made it difficult, if not impossible for many to parent.
There’s also the disproportionately high rate of homicide among black men, whether by people in their own communities or at the hands of the state. My own father was murdered by a cop a couple of weeks before my 15th birthday.

As New York Times writer Brent Staples asked in a tweet this past Fathers’ Day: “Imagine yourself jailed on a low-level Rockefeller-era drug charge. Now a felon: denied a job, housing and the vote. How would you ‘Father’”





Read More:http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/11/portraits_of_everyday_fatherhood.html

Daniel Beaty - Knock, Knock on Def Jam Poetry



The video. A must see. I posted this awhile back in AA. Moving.



25 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
A New Image of Black Fatherhood [PHOTOS] (Original Post) sheshe2 Mar 2015 OP
Very good! H2O Man Mar 2015 #1
Big Big BIG K&R!!! Excellent and thanks for sharing nt riderinthestorm Mar 2015 #2
rec handmade34 Mar 2015 #3
Thank you handmade. sheshe2 Mar 2015 #22
Hah, that 1st photo I thought I would SO love to blow on that tummy, scrolled down and laughed uppityperson Mar 2015 #4
Lol~ sheshe2 Mar 2015 #25
This is great! brer cat Mar 2015 #5
Belly blows are the best! Ilsa Mar 2015 #6
LOVE! IT! Tarheel_Dem Mar 2015 #7
Heartwarming. Thank you, sheshe. eom BlueCaliDem Mar 2015 #8
Beautiful. MerryBlooms Mar 2015 #9
had the exact same reaction! napkinz Mar 2015 #10
K&R! napkinz Mar 2015 #11
k&r Liberal_in_LA Mar 2015 #12
K&R ismnotwasm Mar 2015 #13
K&R n/t lumberjack_jeff Mar 2015 #14
This is a VERY positive thing. Wella Mar 2015 #15
The first pic reminds me of one I have of my husband holding our son notadmblnd Mar 2015 #16
K&R n.t myrna minx Mar 2015 #17
So beautiful. And it's a shame that something so mundane and ordinary for the lives of MILLIONS Number23 Mar 2015 #18
Sigh. I know, Number23. sheshe2 Mar 2015 #19
My God... that first pic should be painted and hung in the freaking Louvre Number23 Mar 2015 #20
I agree. sheshe2 Mar 2015 #21
The study mentioned is very interesting. ND-Dem Mar 2015 #23
kick napkinz Mar 2015 #24

handmade34

(22,755 posts)
3. rec
Fri Mar 27, 2015, 07:24 PM
Mar 2015


yesterday going through security at Philly airport (wish I had carried a camera with me so I could add a photo) the AA Man in front of me holding a sweet little girl of about 1yo placed her on the conveyor belt as he got his things out to put in the tray… I had a big smile for an obviously loving father doing his fatherly things…

uppityperson

(115,674 posts)
4. Hah, that 1st photo I thought I would SO love to blow on that tummy, scrolled down and laughed
Fri Mar 27, 2015, 07:24 PM
Mar 2015

out loud. Great photos, thank you.

notadmblnd

(23,720 posts)
16. The first pic reminds me of one I have of my husband holding our son
Fri Mar 27, 2015, 08:42 PM
Mar 2015

He was such a proud daddy. The second pic never would have happened, our baby didn't like his daddy's beard.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

Number23

(24,544 posts)
18. So beautiful. And it's a shame that something so mundane and ordinary for the lives of MILLIONS
Fri Mar 27, 2015, 09:06 PM
Mar 2015

of Americans is seen as actually "revolutionary" to others.

K&R

sheshe2

(83,341 posts)
19. Sigh. I know, Number23.
Fri Mar 27, 2015, 09:19 PM
Mar 2015

Two favorites to share with you...love this site. Great music too.

Fatherhood



Six Little Babies



http://3chicspolitico.com/

Those pictures, they take your breath away.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
20. My God... that first pic should be painted and hung in the freaking Louvre
Fri Mar 27, 2015, 09:23 PM
Mar 2015

How astonishingly beautiful. The man AND that gorgeous child. Absolutely perfect.

sheshe2

(83,341 posts)
21. I agree.
Fri Mar 27, 2015, 09:29 PM
Mar 2015

As I said, it takes my breath away, such beauty. I go to that site daily and always seek out that image. I posted it once before here. I would post it a million times.

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