The Myth of the Missing Black Father - edited by Roberta L. Coles & Charles Green

Abstract

The Myth of the Missing Black Father. Roberta L. Coles & Charles Green (Eds.). New York: Columbia University Press. 2010. 385 pp. ISBN 9780231 143530. $29.50 (paper). The edited volume 77?^ Myth of the Missing Black Father by Roberta L. Coles and Charles Green challenges the predominant emphasis in research literature and social policy on absent Black by exploring African American men across diverse contexts of fathering. Coles and Green write that their aim is to adjust the public visual lens from a zoom to a wide angle (p. 10). Based on qualitative and quantitative studies, the chapters center on narratives of Black fathers and illustrate the complexities of fatherhood, thereby revealing aspects of African American family life that are largely invisible or understudied. What emerges is a portrait of fathers who are actively involved in supporting and parenting their children, who assert their desire to be fathers, and who through many challenges fulfill their paternal obligations. The volume also addresses limitations of current social policy with respect to supporting Black fathers. The introduction by Coles and Green provides a historical backdrop for contemporary African American family patterns and illustrates how the myth of the Black father informs both public discourse and social science efforts. The editors chronicle the changes in family formation and gender roles in the United States as a result of historical, economic, cultural, and demographic transformations. They review how those transformations have affected marriage, living arrangements, and childbearing among African Americans and, thus, have shaped patterns of nonresidential fatherhood in that population. Coles and Green also highlight the challenges faced by African American fathers, who experience disproportionate rates of unemployment and poverty, low levels of education, higher mortality rates, and lower life expectancy, and who must also negotiate systemic racism and discrimination. The editors also review the extant literature on Black fatherhood to highlight the narrow lens of that work and to draw attention to the small body of work that moves beyond representations of the missing Black father. Part 1 of the volume focuses on the self-defined meanings and parenting practices of married fathers in community-based and national samples. Loren Marks, Katrina Hopkins-Williams, Cassandra Chaney, Olena Nesteruk, and Diane Sasser focus on long-term marriages and the narratives of African American husbands and fathers. Erica Chito Childs and Heather M. Dalmage explore how fathers negotiate race, culture, and identity in the rearing and socialization of biracial and/or multiracial children. The two chapters, though disparate in focus, provide a rare account of married Black fathers' perspectives on marriage and family. A welcome contribution is that the chapters breathe life to Black fatherhood in marriage, which, ironically, the academic literature often overlooks. The richness of the fathers' narratives allows for readers to experience Black men as loyal, committed, and passionate husbands and fathers. Complementing these narratives with a quantitative study, Roland E. Bulanda explores parenting styles in married couples, patterns of coparenting, and adolescents' perceptions of fathers across poverty status. His findings indicate predominantly positive parenting styles (authoritative) and parenting practices (monitoring) among married fathers, and they show that adolescents hold their fathers in high regard. Perhaps the most engaging aspect of this volume is the voice given to single custodial fathers and the challenges they face, in Part 2. Coles illustrated that many fathers not only are willing but also strongly desire to take custody of their children even when circumstances present other alternatives (e.g., foster care, relatives, state agencies). The fathers articulated that they chose to parent because of such reasons as a strong bond with their children and the opportunity to break the cycle or trend of fatherlessness in their families (pp. …