Men We Cherish: African-American Women Praise the Men in Their Lives · Anthologies of African American Writing

Title

Men We Cherish: African-American Women Praise the Men in Their Lives

This edition

"Men We Cherish: African-American Women Praise the Men in Their Lives". Ed. Brooke M. Stephens. New York: Anchor, 1997. xxix+392 pp.

Table of contents

Introduction: A Tough Love Letter to My Battle-Scarred Brothers / Donna Britt -- Preface / Brooke M. Stephens -- Foreword / Marcia Gillespie -- Pt. I. Fathers and Grandfathers. What I Came For / Faith Adiele. Same Coin, Different Sides / jonetta rose barras. Sweet Summer / Bebe Moore Campbell. Our Papa's People / Bessie Delany and Sadie Delany. I'll Call Him Daddy / Marcia L. Dyson. The Hottest Water in Chicago / Gayle Pemberton. Mohamed Shaik / Fatima Shaik. Granddaddy / Brooke M. Stephens -- Pt. II. Brothers, Uncles, and Extended Family. A Macon Boy / Victoria Cliett. Uncle John / Norma Jean and Carole Darden. My Little Brother, Jimmy / Carolyn Hart-Solomon. Esco / Kai Jackson-Issa. Straight to the Ghetto / Connie Porter. Brothers Are ... / Kiini Ibura Ya Salaam. Homecoming / Gloria Wade-Gayles -- Pt. III. Sons and Grandsons. My Special Agent / Lillian G. Allen. Saving Our Sons / Marita Golden. My "Do-Over" American Son / Elizabeth Nunez. My Foghorn / Patrice Wagner -- Pt. IV. Husbands and Lovers. It's Ten O'Clock and I Worry About Where My Husband Is / Rosemary Bray. A Femme Kind of Love / Mali Michelle Fleming. His Story / Donna Wise -- Pt. V. Friends and Mentors. The Men in My Life / DorisJean Austin. To Mr. Scriber, and Other Black Knights in Shining Armor / Evelyn Coleman. Integrated Paths / Charlayne Hunter-Gault. A Few Good Men / Orian Hyde Weeks. A Bouquet for Arthur P. / Jennifer Jordan. My Handyman / Pam Ward. Ready / Leslie Woodard.

Publisher's description

"In Men We Cherish, African-American women celebrate everyday heroes: fathers and grandfathers, brothers and best friends, sons and husbands. Thirty essays, memoirs, and love letters offer moving portraits of the Black men who never make the headlines, who quietly go about the business of building families and communities, who make the daily struggle for respectability and decency look easy. Editor Brooke Stephens has united a diverse body of voices, including Bebe Moore Campbell, Sadie and Bessie Delany, Marita Golden, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, in a groundbreaking anthology that stands alone as a rare reflection on the honesty, generosity, and depth that is the reality of African-American men" (publisher's description).

"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 for Men We Cherish was born.

Waiting to Exhale and the Million Man March to the contrary, good black men are neither fantasy nor unanswered prayer. In Men 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.

With Men 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" (publisher's description).

Item Number

A0633