Health, Parenting, and Community Perspectives on Black Fatherhood: Defying Stereotypes and Amplifying Strengths addresses a wide range of important contemporary issues facing Black fathers in their efforts to act on their intentions to be engaged and present parents. It is an essential read for any researcher and practitioner concerned with the well-being of Black children, families, and communities.

Armon R. Perry, University of Louisville

Fatherhood, like motherhood and other presumed shared family social roles, is best undertaken and most successfully navigated in tandem with other acknowledged collaborators working toward a common purpose-to sustain the family unit in support of the child(ren)’s well-being. Yet, the historical positioning of westernized perspectives shaping the father role suggest that while parenting is indeed a shared responsibility, fathers’ unique positioning within the family is far from “equally shared.” It’s instead elevated, delineating their attachment to instrumental, moral guidance, and disciplinary roles within families as prime and exclusively reserved for men, thereby protecting their dominance in the family unit except in the case of Black men who--in their roles as fathers--were denied this attribution based largely on race bias and discrimination.

Health, Parenting and Community Perspectives on Black Fatherhood: Defying Stereotypes and Amplifying Strengths empirically pushes back against this flawed perspective and disappearing paradigm within western families to yield a more complex yet nuanced approach to understanding the full context of Black fatherhood and the challenges faced by Black fathers in executing this important social role. Editors Tasha L. Alston, Brianna P. Lemmons, and Latrice S. Rollins assemble a range of important education and family scholars and practitioners to situate health broadly as a primary context for the well-being of families and especially the Black children that Black fathers labor to support. The contributors also expand the challenging duties and responsibilities of parenting to acknowledge long-absent dimensions of responsible parenting within Black families, shaped in part by their racialized identities, that are routinely omitted in earlier parenting volumes. This book centers community as an over-arching context that provides a wider scope of inclusive engagement and support for Black fathers who are often perceived as outside the family structure as well as individual families who need more than their individual resources often yield. Black fathers remain at the locus of these empirical examinations, distinguishing this volume in uniquely important ways.

Waldo E. Johnson, Jr., The University of Chicago

This collection of research and essays makes a significant contribution to the growing body of empirical literature on the role and significant impact of Black fathers in their families and communities. The chapters provide a rich resource of information and analysis for tracing the contemporary obstacles to positive Black fatherhood back to the history of slavery, Jim Crow, welfare policies, poverty and the creation, and rise of the prison industrial complex. Furthermore, it offers insightful approaches for advancing the assets for Black Fatherhood as a key element for positive child development—prenatally and throughout childhood. Health, Parenting and Community Perspectives on Black Fatherhood: Defying Stereotypes and Amplifying Strengths is indeed a comprehensive resource on Black fatherhood that expands the pathways to health equity, positive parenting, and community empowerment.

Fleda Mask Jackson, Maternal Mental Health Researcher and Advocate

Westernized perspectives of fatherhood suggest that while parenting is indeed a shared responsibility, fathers’ unique positioning within the family is far from “equally shared.” It’s instead elevated, delineating their attachment to instrumental, moral guidance, and disciplinary roles within families as prime and exclusively reserved for men, thereby protecting their dominance in the family unit except in the case of Black men who--in their roles as fathers--were denied this attribution based largely on race bias and discrimination. Health, Parenting and Community Perspectives on Black Fatherhood: Defying Stereotypes and Amplifying Strengths empirically pushes back against this flawed perspective and disappearing paradigm of fathers’ unique positioning within the family to yield a more complex yet nuanced approach to understanding the full context of Black fatherhood and the challenges faced by Black fathers in executing this important social role. Editors Tasha L. Alston, Brianna P. Lemmons and Latrice S. Rollins assemble a range of important education and family scholars and practitioners to situate health broadly as a primary context for the well-being of families and especially the Black children that Black fathers labor to support. Throughout this book, Black fathers remain at the locus of all empirical examinations, distinguishing this volume in uniquely important ways.

Waldo E. Johnson, Jr., The University of Chicago