06/21/2026
Happy Father’s Day!
We pause today to celebrate all fathers.
I wish to personally recognize Black fathers for their vital role in their children's lives and their communities.
First, let me acknowledge the three generations of fathers who have passed in my life. My dad, maternal and paternal grandfathers, and maternal and paternal great-grandfathers.
Family has always been an important part of the Addison (Sanders) Family journey, with fathers playing a key role.
As the Addison (Sanders) Family’s historian, I began researching our family in 1994. I have been fortunate to travel to various locations and view original documents that have helped me chronicle our journey in this land.
My great-granddads, are the oldest relatives I have been able to trace. My maternal great-granddad (Papa Stephen) was born a slave in Missouri in 1858 (ca). I actually have a portrait of Papa Stephen.
My paternal great-granddad (Papa Davis) was born a slave in 1860 (ca) in Georgia. He was a Baptist preacher who, according to my dad, had to navigate the spatial landmines of the racist South in presenting his weekly sermons.
My maternal grandfather, Willie Sanders, born in 1875 (ca) was a longshoreman in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a husband and father who kept his family together. During the 1929 depression, according to my mother, their family did not suffer the economic hardship that many others in the community did because her father was able to provide for them.
My paternal grandfather, Professor Albert L. Addison, was born a slave in Maryland in 1862 (ca). As a freeman, he traveled to Alabama, where he studied with Booker T. Washington. He was recruited as a ‘colored’ schoolteacher in Miller County, Georgia, and settled in Colquitt. He married my paternal grandmother in May 1897, and their first child, my dad, was born in June the following year.
My dad was a trailblazer in his family, the eldest of 10 siblings. He migrated to the north in 1943 and hosted his mother, siblings, and nieces as they followed him.
He was a husband, father, Bishop, and committed social activist. He was the father of 11 children and kept a roof over our heads, food on the table, and clothes on our backs without relying on welfare or food stamps.
He would often say in response to what ‘white’ men won’t let Black men do, “Men don’t let other men do. Men do because they are men.”
During slavery and after, there were deliberate social and governmental efforts to fracture Black families, diminish Black fathers, and permanently harm Black children. Black men in my family and our communities have labored to be providers and protectors, carrying our families forward despite some of the most horrific conditions imaginable.
Is there room for improvement?
Yes, there certainly is.
However, today we celebrate Black Fathers who, despite all odds, including slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings, segregation, discrimination, the Moynihan Report, the rise of the prison-industrial complex, and the co-opting of popular Black music to glorify self-degradation, are still here.
And despite popular opinion, Black fathers are engaged, present, and making a difference in their children's lives.
Stats on Black fathers:
1. By their 40s, 81% of Black men have children, a rate higher than the average for all men.
2. Over half of Black children (52.5%) live with a father who resides with them.
3. The number of single Black fathers raising children has increased since 1990: 1.18 million compared to 472,000 (respectively).
4. When Black fathers live with their children, studies show they are often more involved in daily childcare than their white or Hispanic counterparts.
5. Cultural expectations within the Black community often emphasize strong family ties and active fathering roles. Therefore, this high level of involvement is both a personal choice and a reflection of community values.
6. Black Fathers’ Hands-On Childcare (Compared to White/Hispanic Fathers Living with Children)
More Likely: To bathe, diaper, or dress their children daily.
More Likely: To eat meals with their children daily.
More Likely: To help their children with daily homework.
(Source: Statistics Don’t Lie: Black Dads Are More)
Happy Father’s Day
Rev. ‘Lady Mother’ S.Y. Addison-Britto
Triumph, The Church of the New Age - International
