Chapter 8: The World is Yours: Cultivating Black Male Leadership Learning

Black men have been leaders in the United States throughout its history. One need only take a glance to find evidence of the positive contributions Black men have made in society. Whether referring to prominent leaders, such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Charles Hamilton Houston, A. Phillip Randolph, Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X., or the lesser well-known every day Black male leaders, community activists, church leaders, businessmen, and educators, it is evident that Black men are leaders. Unfortunately, one would not always be able to identify Black male leadership based on societal and media depictions and assumptions associated with Black men. Often, stereotypes of Black men include being lazy, violent, absentee fathers, criminals, uneducated, employable only as entertainers or athletes, and coming from nontraditional homes (Hodge, Burden, Robinson, & Bennett, 2008). These perceptions persist despite the positive contributions of Black men in many aspects of society.