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Young African American Men

1546 Words7 Pages

There are many explanations for someones success and there are also reason for unsuccessfulness. Some of the reasons for success may be due to family legacies and long time goals flourishing. In other cases success may not come to some people, for reasons such as lack of motivation or situations outside of their control. The focus topic of this paper is the influential forces, which motivate young African American men to succeed in life in the Atlanta, GA area. The question derived from this topic is-Does having a father effect the success of young African American men? By exploring this topic, there may be a chance to understand how success among African American men differs from the unsuccessful. If there is a chance that fathers contribute …show more content…

Success according to (Merriam-Webster, 2015) is “favorable or desired outcome; also: the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.” Success is defined as something that can be worked for or given to someone. Young African American males all define what success is for them individually and their own definition may be what influences their level of success. Since not all the same factors contribute in the lives of young African American men, the common factor that they do all have is that of a …show more content…

In doing so there may be a chance to limit the amount of failure in that community. If fathers are significant in how prosperous their sons become, then fathers may need to be educated on the importance of fatherhood. In cases where “Self-determination” has driven individuals to succeed, they may be able to mentor future generations on how to project that from within. Davis, Jenkins and Hunt (2007) tell of their stories of how having a fatherless childhood effect their development, but it also tells of how they overcame their life obstacles. These three doctors were reared in homes where they experienced and saw a lot of things that lead them down the wrong path. Although they were going down the wrong path, they made a contract with each other to succeed. Their story is an example self-determination and having a non-paternal support system (p.

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The two stories illustrate that African-Americans are not given an equal chance in terms of gaining opportunities for a successful life. However, it may be possible that one key factor among all can develop a whole problematic image on success and why White Americans think of the African-American society as to not having the capability for a chance towards success. At the time, the economy could have been at a huge disadvantage for the African-Americans because majority of them did not have the chance to rise up from it in terms of creating revenue for themselves. The whole world around them built this image and it is hard to come out of when no one can give opportunities for them to improve and grow. Harlon L. Dalton expresses how unfair the

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705 Words | 3 Pages

Social Group: Fathers During this time period, fathers were the “breadwinners” and expected to work and provide for their families. However, black fathers in the 1950’s particular had to work long hours because the only jobs available to them were often low paying. This directly correlates with African-American’s low place on the social ladder during this pre-Civil Rights era. It was also extremely difficult for African-American women to find work during this time, placing the financial buren solely on the father.

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800 Words | 4 Pages

In “If I Were A Poor Black Kid,” writer Gene Marks claims that poor inner city children have opportunities to be successful in life if they follow the advices/ideas he gives such as, to magnet/private school, have technology access and get good grades. Throughout the article Marks, emphasizes that poor inner city kids have the ability to be successful but they do not want to use the resource they have available. This article has been a controversial because Marks compare himself with the poor inner city kids without having knowledge about the challenges poor inner city kids face daily. The argument the author presents in the article may seem logical on the surface but investigating more deeply it can be unreasonable. Gene Marks is a man who comes from a middle class white background.

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103 Words | 1 Pages

In Hill’s (1972) seminal work, The Strengths of Black Families, on African American families, he states that “strong kinship bonds, a strong work orientation, adaptability of family roles, a strong achievement orientation, and a strong religious orientation were characteristics that have been functional for their survival, development and stability”. Hill (1999) states that strong kinship ties are the greatest enduring family qualities and are imbedded in West African cultural values. This strong kinship connection encompasses the significance of extended family, which is inclusion of fictive kin as family, the high value placed on children, and honor and respect for older adults (Billingsley, 1992).

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871 Words | 4 Pages

In the article, “Stop Blaming Black Parents for Underachieving Kids”, Dr. Andre Perry defends the negative comments being thrown at black parents based on their child’s academic success. He expresses his feelings and ideas in forms of anecdotes and factual evidence. He also uses his knowledge as a dean of urban education. In his article “Stop Blaming Black Parents for Underachieving Kids”, published in the Washington Post, Dr. Andre Perry defends black parents’ participation in their kids’ education by providing facts and anecdotes discussing what the parents are willing to provide for their children’s education.

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1036 Words | 5 Pages

For centuries to come the notion may persist that men of African descent and in particular, the fathers are nonexistent within the Afro American/Caribbean family. It is believed that men of African descent are not present in the children’s lives. For some of us this may be our reality but slightly skewed to paint a negative image of the men in these communities. However, for us to understand why this has infiltrated our culture and way of thinking, we must examine the creators of this culture and way of thinking.

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1407 Words | 6 Pages

Values: The chapter highlights that there is not one uniform African American community, rather a collection of diverse communities within the population and culture, thus there is not a single set of value systems, however there are main reoccurring themes that represent the group’s values, being a high importance of family – including immediate, extended and close friends, tradition and respect for elders, racial and ethic identity, religion and spirituality and the Importance of education. These African American value systems “have been shaped by a history of people formed out of many African peoples forced to become unified under the societal devaluation represented by slavery, discrimination, and prejudice while at the same time wooed

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479 Words | 2 Pages

In today’s society, many black African American men struggle due to our gender. We struggle to survive. The struggle of surviving, leads to the struggle of being stereotyped, and finally ends with the struggle of being successful. No, we’re not talking success on the court or running down the field. We’re talking Chief Executive Officers, Engineers, and even doctors.

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337 Words | 2 Pages

In many instances masculinity can be an avoided topic amongst African-American men. Black men are seemingly expected to show no signs of emotion, fear, and happiness. If so, black men will be categorized as feminine or weak. In American society, black men are deemed the providers and the leaders, so they must not possess any aspects that may be exemplify their fear and vulnerability. During the class on Week 9, LaShonda Coleman touched on many of these topics.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

The tradition of education in the African American culture implies the cultural values of the better opportunities for the family. Education provides an efficient ways to avoid the struggles that other African American’s families had to endure to provide a stable life for their families. An understanding of your ethnic culture

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1082 Words | 5 Pages

There are many open wounds in the African-American community that have not healed what so ever. Disintegration of family structures in the African-American community has been a persistent problem for far too long. High out of wedlock birth rates, absent fathers, and the lack of a family support network for many young African-Americans have led to serious problems in America's urban areas. The persistence of serious social problems in inner-city areas has led to a tragic perpetuation of racial prejudice as well. African Americans still face a litany of problems in the 21st century today.

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766 Words | 4 Pages

People in society either grow up with a father figure or without a father figure in their life. Those whose father’s do decide to stay in their child’s life have no idea how big of an impact they leave and it’s usually a good impact depending on the relationship between the father and child. A father is not there just to be a part of the child’s life, but to actually give some sort of guidance for the child. This is proven in “Beyond My Fathers Shadow” (Gordon Chambers), “The Boat” (Alistair MacLeod) and “Cages” (Guy Vanderhaeghe).

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1500 Words | 6 Pages

Did you know 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes? A father contributes a lot to a child and life lessons are learned from this parent. But what happens when they are absent from the life? My uncle Roosevelt Hubbard is my giant he is a local union 141 carpenter, he grew up on south shore without a father and went to private schools most of his life then he had an arm injury that changed his life. I met my uncle on my aunt’s block of 89th and stony at the time my uncle and my aunt were still friends and high school sweethearts but they eventually started dating and got married in 2006.

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1371 Words | 6 Pages

Success can be interpreted In many different ways. From having success by going to college or success by being able to reach the highest point of a tall tree. One thing you must know is that success has the same meaning even though it may be used for different reasons. In our generation there are students who lack the ability of being able to succeed and being able to recognize the importance of succeeding. Success is just a simplistic word, but the meaning behind this simple word is much more what meets the eye, it may not be noticeable at first nor it may be recognizable to others in the end.

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1839 Words | 8 Pages

The importance in the role of a father is so needed in society, since the current trend is thrusting broken sons into positions reserved for well-prepared men. The lack of fostering healthy father-son relationships has resulted in an incomplete and inadequate society that contributes to the other social problems that America faces today. Lack of confronting this issue as a culture, only insures we continue to damage our young men and undermine their potential prospective happiness and success. We have freely placed our future in a culturally-approved cycle of behavior that unmistakably does not

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