Across the nation this weekend fathers will take center stage as Father’s Day is observed each third Sunday of June.
When the concept was started nearly 100 years ago (1910) by Mrs. John Bruce Dodd of Spokane, WA, fatherhood was viewed in a much different light. Even since its official recognition some 26 years later through the formation of a Father’s Day Committee in 1936, headquartered in New York City, the concept continuously changes with the signs of the times.
Originally the White father was viewed as the head of the household and master of all he possessed–his wife and children among them. Black fathers of that era worked mainly in the fields, coal mines, on railroads, and at other forms of hard labor with a few managing to assume less laborious professions in hotels, as dining car or Pullman porters with the railroads, as preachers, teachers, in the medical or legal professions or as small (and occasionally big) time private entrepreneurs. Few Black fathers at that period in time were able to receive education while supporting their families and the education of their children–mostly girls as the sons had to assist with sharing responsibilities.
As the result, most educated females returned from predominantly White colleges and universities with the option of marrying an uneducated Black male or remaining spinsters–as many chose to do. The adverse effects on the offspring of these “unequally yoked” couples, both socially and academically (of which I am one) are as varied as the individual incidents themselves, as among my two siblings.
Among Webster’s many definitions of the word father, we find: “one who has begotten a child”–to which Jesse Jackson has added of today’s fatherhood; “It’s not about just producing a baby, but taking care of that child for the next 20 years of its life that makes you a father.”
Webster’s definitions also include: “a male parent or one who provides care as a father might; a title of honor given to men who establish anything important in human affairs;” or “a man who occupies an unusual place in history.” For example, Carter G. Woodson is referred to as the “father of Black History” and singer James Brown as the “Father of Soul.”
Yet we find in the Holy Bible “And call no man your father upon the earth; for One is your Father, which is in heavens” (Matthew 23:9).
Over the past century, we have observed the changing face of fatherhood from dreaded headmaster to one of mutual partnership, to loving parent, single parent, and most recently to twin fathers of same-sex marriages.
Therefore, this Father’s Day may we diligently strive to rid ourselves of every tradition, habit, thought, or emotion that would diminish our appreciation of, or honor the fathers of yesteryear who distinguished themselves to the best of their proven ability under very different circumstances; to the father’s of today, many of whom have been abandoned by society as a whole, and especially to the fathers of tomorrow who need more love and support than any before them, all of whom will have indelible influence upon the minds and morals of the children in whose hands too soon will fall the future of the world.
~ Happy Father’s Day ~
