Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood

by Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Overview

The fatherless black family is a problem that grows to bigger proportions every year as generations of black children grow up without an adult male in their homes. As this dire pattern grows worse, what can men do who hope to break it, when there are so few models and so little guidance in their own homes and communities? Where can they learn to “become Dad?” When Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Pitts—who himself grew up with an abusive father whose absences came as a relief—interviewed dozens of men across the country, he found both discouragement and hope, as well as deep insights into his own roles as son and father. An unflinching investigation, both personal and journalistic, of black fatherhood in America, this is the best, most pivotal book on this profoundly important issue.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932841176
Publisher:	Agate
Publication date:	06/18/2006
Pages:	263
Sales rank:	784,686
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Editorial Reviews

In this book you'll meet men who've beaten their own sad legacy and become superb parents and men who have perpetuated the cycle of violence and loss in which they were raised. This book---clear-eyed and searching---is one that anyone who cares about fathering in our community won't soon forget.
— Essence

Martha Southgate

Becoming a father is easy, requiring little more than a healthy sperm count, but becoming a dad, with the respect and love implied by that term, is a lifelong process and commitment. In this book, Pitts offers a critique of absent, neglectful and abusive fathers as well as advice for those who would like to do better.
— ForeWord

Erik Bledsoe

Pitts, an African American journalist, has written a poignant account of the nature and meaning of black fatherhood in the contemporary United States. He deftly weaves together remembrances of an abusive father with scores of interviews with other black fathers and children. The result is a moving portrait of pain, suffering, and guilt as Pitts recounts a number of stories in which black fathers simply are not "there" for their kids. Although he offers no easy solutions, he does use the Million Man March of 1995 as a hopeful symbol that black men can learn to take more responsibility for their lives and those of their children. Although repetitious in places, this is a very well written and provocative work. Highly recommended.--Anthony O. Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Syndicated Miami Herald columnist Pitts offers a thoroughly absorbing study of the African-American man's struggle to become a competent father in a society sorely lacking in role models. Detailing his personal efforts to bond with his children, the author also presents numerous case studies of black men facing similar difficulties. Sons of abusive or absent men, many members of the younger generation have to pave their way to productive fatherhood over rough terrain, while exorcising their progenitors' ghosts. As Pitts details, with 64 percent of African-American children growing up in single-parent homes, often raised by poor mothers, black youth, especially males, are at greater risk for delinquency. Lacking male role models that provide love or discipline, insecure black youth often feel abandoned and adopt the tough bravado of street culture. Interviewing black males, Pitts encounters too many who have abdicated all the responsibilities of fatherhood; some aren't even sure how many children they have. Blaming racism for their predicament, as valid as that may be, in Pitts's view only perpetuates the cycle of black men who grew up without fathers begetting children who grow up in single-parent homes. Pitts offers helpful, sensible advice. He urges black men who have fathered children to locate them and establish a relationship with them and their mothers. Once they establish that relationship, he says, they should not try to buy kids' love but instead create structure and stability while praising them, allowing the next generation to grow up confident. Fathers must also make the children understand the importance of education, says Pitts; this is especially important in a society"that touts the notion that authentic blackness precludes academic excellence." A readable, well-balanced, impassioned account of a dilemma that touches not just the black family, but all who care about children. ($100,000 ad/promo; author tour)

Kirkus Reviews

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