Chronicles of a Full-Time Father by James Ninness

“I’m trying to expand their notion of what it means to be a Black man, to be a Black father.” These are intentional spaces where I engage with my children,” Ginwright told me. Shawn Ginwright, a professor of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University and a father of two children in their 20s, says the country’s Black father narrative is mostly devoid of such “intimate beauty and love.” The country just doesn’t acknowledge us.” But so many of us Black men are functioning off this innate gift, this natural ability to be great at it. “I didn’t have a blueprint for how to be a father. “The work (Black fathers) do on a regular basis is looked at as an anomaly,” said Prentice Powell, who spoke in a whisper as his newborn daughter, Shai, napped beside him. And 35% of Black fathers read to their children on a regular basis, a little more than the 30% of white fathers who did the same. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 70% of Black dads living with children under age 5 bathed, clothed and changed the diapers of their kids, compared with 60% of white fathers.

San Jose native Louis Ceaser created the event with the initial hope that a couple of Black fathers like him might be interested.īlack men have long been excluded from America’s portrait of the care economy, despite evidence that they play a central role in it. The footage is from February 2020’s Black Dads of the Bay Meetup near Lake Merritt. It’s been viewed more than 700,000 times. There’s a 16-second, hastily shot video that’s been circulating on social media over the past year showing a few dozen Black men happily pushing strollers along a sidewalk in Oakland.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Show More Show Less Six-year-old Josiah looks up at his father, John Jones, during his virtual learning class in Oakland in January. James / The Chronicle 2020 Show More Show Less 4 of4 A 2013 study found that 70% of Black fathers are involved in their young children’s care. Shomari Carter places a pair of disposable gloves on his son, Onyx Carter, 3, last year in Oakland. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of4 Data show Black men such as Prentice, in many aspects, are more attentive to the needs of their young children than fathers from other racial groups. Prentice Powell holds newborn Shai Powell as his wife, Sarai McCall, looks on. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of4 Powell is one of many young Black men debunking the “absent Black father” myth, which is rooted in racism. Prentice Powell (left) holds his newborn Shai Powell.

Chronicles of a Full-Time Father by James Ninness