Steven L. Dashiell

African American men face scrutiny in terms of what they do when they are not working. As a population that has been accused of being absent, unmotivated, and lacking initiative, there is a critique that these men face surrounding play and games that differ from other populations. Through interviews with these men, this project explores how they navigate the opinions from both inside and outside the African American community about their activities, and how the leisure of Black men is held to a different standard. While the leisure activities for African American men are often criticized, the interviews demonstrate how common leisure activities serve as healthy hush harbors and third spaces, where networking, bonding, and dispute settling occur under the guise of play.