Introduction: For the love of our sons / George Yancy
I. Reflections.
Black mother/sons / Sara Lomax-Reese
Once white in America / Jane Lazarre
A bottle of Mike Brown and Robin Williams / Shelly Bell
Dark radiance / Becky Thompson and LaMar Delandro
Why being the lone Black friend of whites will not protect you / Noliwe Rooks
The box / Tracey Reed Armant
White mama, Black sons / Heather Johnson
Watching and waiting / Nicole McJamerson
The trouble I've seen...and why it matters / Meta G. Carstarphen
Inside/outside / Susan Hadley
Black and blue : stressing through to dialogue / Deborah Binkley-Jackson
A Black Jewish boy facing manhood / Jane Anna Gordon
II. Essays.
Sacrificial lambs : how many dead bodies is enough? / Carol E. Henderson
Reflections of Black motherhood : birthing Black sons / Linda D. Tomlinson
The war within : respect and the predicament of mothering Black sons / Newtona (Tina) Johnson
A long ways from home? / Michele Moody-Adams
T.H.U.G. (talented, humanistic, unique, gifted) : anthropology, sentiments, and narratives of Black mothers and sons / Elisha Oliver
A fierce love : the unique process of nurturing, educating, and protecting our Black sons / Tracey McCants Lewis
Through the valley of the shadow of death / Veronica T. Watson
Mothers and their Black sons : struggling against fears, sorrows, and hope / Blanche Radford Curry
Regarding Henry / T. Denean Sharpley Whiting
III. Poems.
A love poem for Michael Brown / Elisheba Johnson
Lamentations from a Black mom / Dyan Watson
for trayvon / Treasure Shields Redmond
News of you, my son / Sharyn Skeeter
Death passes twice / Autumn Redcross
LV. Letters.
Dear William / Gretchen Givens Generett
A letter to CJ / Regina Sims Wright
Killing/saving/loving Black boys / Karsonya Wise Whitehead
Anger / Jacki Lynn Baynks
A letter to Dr. King : please keep breathing / Maria del Guadalupe Davidson
A letter to my sons / Dawn Herd-Clark.