Frederick Joseph grew up without a father, and he's wondering now whether he wants to be one himself. As a child, he loved Broadway musicals when everyone else expected him to be into sports. Today he resists the suffocating expectations placed on him as a Black man in America through his poetry and essays, inviting men to break the mold of masculinity and embrace the full range of human emotions—sorrow, anger, love, and joy, and more.
Frederick's latest book is a collection of poems called We Alive, Beloved. He joins us to talk about the intersections of race and masculinity in America.
SHOW NOTES- Frederick Joseph's Substack
- Order Frederick Joseph's new novel, This Thing of Ours
Frederick Joseph is the award-winning two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Black Friend and Patriarchy Blues, in addition to writing other books. His latest is a collection of poems called We Alive, Beloved. His first novel This Thing of Ours comes out in May 2025. He was a 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list maker, and was included in The Root’s top 100 most influential African Americans. He’s also worked in advertising, activism, and philanthropy.
Full transcript available here at relationscapes.org.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.