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My Seven Black Fathers: A Young Activist’s Memoir of Race, Family, and the Mentors Who Made Him Whole
Top of the pile
90
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
84/100Critics
96/100Scholars
Author:
Will Jawando
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date:
May 3, 2022
Will Jawando tells a deeply affirmative story of hope and respect for men of color at a time when Black men are routinely stigmatized. As a boy growing up outside DC, Will, who went by his Nigerian name, Yemi, was shunted from school to school, never quite fitting in. He was a Black kid with a divorced white mother, a frayed relationship with his biological father, and teachers who scolded him for being disruptive in class and on the playground. Eventually, he became close to Kalfani, a kid he looked up to on the basketball court. Years after he got the call telling him that Kalfani was dead, another sickening casualty of gun violence, Will looks back on the relationships with an extraordinary series of mentors that enabled him to thrive.
What The Reviewers Say
Candid and uplifting.
Jawando has written an enlightening, heartfelt memoir that will appeal to readers looking for a 'different' all-American story; one that shows the power of community to uplift Black men in the United States..
[A] rousing debut.
The author’s stories and analysis serve as an homage to the importance of providing Black boys with Black male role models.
