Men We Cherish

by Stephens, Brooke

• ISBN13: 9780385485326
• ISBN10: 0385485328
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-10-06
• Publisher: Anchor Books

Summary

One evening in 1994, writer Brooke Stephens was listening to the news while working on a tribute to her grandfather for an upcoming family reunion. The evening's newscast began with three negative reports about black men--as rapists, muggers and murderers. The contrast between the black men on the news and the black man she was writing about suddenly seemed enormous. Where were the black men she knew? Stephens wondered. Why were they never featured on the evening news? Never publicly discussed or shown? From these questions, the idea forMen We Cherishwas born. Waiting to Exhaleand the Million Man March to the contrary, good black men are neither fantasy nor unanswered prayer. InMen We Cherish,thirty African American women celebrate these everyday heroes: fathers and grandfathers, brothers and best friends, sons and husbands. These essays, memoirs, and love letters offer moving portraits of the three-out-of-four black men who never make the headlines. The men in the lives of established black women writers, including Bebe Moore Campbell, Gloria Wade-Gayles, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and the Delany sisters, reflect the diversity, honesty, generosity and depth that is the reality of African American men. WithMen We Cherish,Brooke Stephens has created a groundbreaking collection that stands alone in the market as a literary memoir, a social critique, and an affirmation of faith.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION A Tough Love Letter to My Battle-Scarred Brothers	xiii	(4)
Donna Britt
PREFACE	xvii	(10)
Brooke M. Stephens
FOREWORD	xxvii
Marcia Gillespie
PART I FATHERS AND GRANDFATHERS What I Came For	1	(122)
Faith Adiele
Same Coin, Different Sides	29	(14)
jonetta rose barras
Sweet Summer	43	(16)
Bebe Moore Campbell
Our Papa's People	59	(6)
Bessie and Sadie Delany
I'll Call Him Daddy	65	(14)
Marcia L. Dyson
The Hottest Water in Chicago	79	(12)
Gayle Pemberton
Mohamed Shaik	91	(14)
Fatima Shaik
Granddaddy	105	(18)
Brooke M. Stephens
PART II BROTHERS, UNCLES, AND EXTENDED FAMILY A Macon Boy	123	(82)
Victoria Cliett
Uncle John	133	(4)
Norma Jean
Carole Darden
My Little Brother, Jimmy	137	(14)
Carolyn Hart-Solomon
Esco	151	(10)
Kai Jackson-Issa
Straight to the Ghetto	161	(12)
Connie Porter
Brothers Are	173	(10)
Kiini Ibura Ya Salaam
Homecoming	183	(22)
Gloria Wade-Gayles
PART III SONS AND GRANDSONS My Special Agent	205	(54)
Lillian G. Allen
Saving Our Sons	217	(14)
Marita Golden
My "Do-Over" American Son	231	(12)
Elizabeth Nunez
My Foghorn	243	(16)
Patrice Wagner
PART IV HUSBANDS AND LOVERS It's Ten O'Clock and I Worry About Where My Husband Is	259	(34)
Rosemary Bray
A Femme Kind of Love	263	(12)
Mali Michelle Fleming
His Story	275	(18)
Donna Wise
PART V FRIENDS AND MENTORS The Men in My Life	293	(90)
DorisJean Austin
To Mr. Scriber, and Other Black Knights in Shining Armor	297	(16)
Evelyn Coleman
Integrated Paths	313	(4)
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
A Few Good Men	317	(18)
Orian Hyde Weeks
A Bouquet for Arthur P.	335	(18)
Jennifer Jordan
My Handyman	353	(12)
Pam Ward
Ready	365	(18)
Leslie Woodard
CONTRIBUTORS	383	(8)
PERMISSIONS	391