Phenomenal Fathers - role models of African American fatherhood

THEY'RE NOT ON TV. They're not in the headlines or in the sociology books. But go down almost any street and you'll find a phenomenal Black father keeping the ancient faith and passing on the baton of hope and strength and dignity.

The names are numerous and numinous: Fred Brown, for example, who gave up a job on the Chicago Stock Exchange in order to raise his son alone; Osayande Watson, who has adopted two boys and is looking for more; Mark Fields, who gave up a Wall Street career so he could stay close to home and take care of his ailing wife and their four children.

There are Black fathers like Mark Fields all over America, but few know their names. Here, for Father's Day, and every other day of the year, are the names and deeds of phenomenal fathers everybody ought to know.

MARK FIELDS

ACCORDING to his friends and family members, Mark Fields of Oak Park, Ill., is practically the poster guy for the modern generation of involved fathers. Despite a demanding job in the world of financial services--a world not typically associated with family-friendly work conditions--Fields, 37, has organized his life and altered the trajectory of his career to accommodate the needs of his wife of nearly 12 years, Jacqueline Moore, and their four children (pictured above, 1. to r., Jordan, 10, 10-month-old twin daughters Kendall and Lindsay, and Merrick, 7). Jacqueline Moore, a researcher in developmental psychology at the University of Chicago's Chapin Hall Center for the study of Children, suffers from the immune system disorder known as lupus. In Moore's case, the disease has tended to present itself with symptoms similar to rheumatoid arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome. Carrying the couple's twin daughters was an ordeal that kept Moore, also 37, on bed rest for three months before the twins were born two months prematurely.

Partly as a result of his wife's illness, Fields, a director of corporate finance for Ernst & Young in Chicago, has had to "step up" on the fatherhood front. He is basketball coach and homework supervisor, cook, chauffeur and, when called for, hair comber. In short, he is an all-purpose dad.

Fields says his parenting style was molded by a simple creed. "Jackie's father told me very early on in fatherhood that in terms of raising happy, productive children, you get out of parenting what you put in," he says. "Consequently, I put in everything I can in terms of time and energy."

In the Moore-Fields household the division of labor doesn't fall along traditional gender lines. Everyone pitches in, and Mark tries to pick up the slack to ease the burden on Moore when her lupus flares.

"What makes Mark a fabulous father," Moore says, "is that there's no job he doesn't think a father should be able to handle. There's never been any separation between my jobs around the house and his jobs. We just love our children and do whatever it takes to keep our household running. If that means having to take off work to take them to the doctor or coaching basketball or cooking dinner or doing baths, Mark is prepared to do all that. And it's always been that way."

Fields works hard at forging bonds with his children. Each has a special song that their dad--who likes to dabble in music--composed especially for them. (Fields says he's still working on songs for the twins. "It's a little harder coming up with two at the same time.") Fields also revels in the bedtime stories and chats he shares with his children. "He listens to our problems and talks to us about what we're doing in school," says Jordan. "They [his mom and dad] decided that they wouldn't spank us, so he talks to us about why we did what we did [when trouble arises] and tries to find out what we think we should do about it."

Fields, who holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Rutgers and an MBA from Pepperdine, readily admits that he is not your typical finance executive. Though he has all the credentials to be a Wall Street fast-tracker, he has declined offers to move to New York in order to maintain a lifestyle that affords him the flexibility to be a do-it-all-dad.

Fields manages his hectic home and work schedules using all the technology available--cell phone, e-mail, lap top, portable electronic database. He's a walking commercial for the wonders of the information age.

He keeps his travel to a minimum, never venturing from home for longer than three days--another benefit, he says, to living in the Midwest. "I can be anywhere in the country in under four hours, which gives me the flexibility to be home on weekends, which is very important to me."

He doesn't do much of the golf course and after-hours schmoozing that is essential to developing important relationships in his profession, but he says he doesn't feel his career has been irreparably stunted because of it.

"I know I'm a different kind of father than a lot of guys in my profession," he says. "But I wouldn't trade the time I spend with my family. Investing time in my family is the most important thing I do. I feel blessed to be able to do it."