A ‘Song For My Father’
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/6/21/800057585/series/a-song-for-my-father/
A ‘Song For My Father’
Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 300 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
Even though I have posted soundtracks for Father’s Day, I did not know the history behind the establishment of the holiday.
I was under the impression that it predated Mother’s Day—and I was wrong.
The Forgotten History of Father’s Day
Father’s Day did not become a national holiday until 1972. Why did it take so long to pass into law (unlike Mother’s Day, which was quickly embraced)? Why was it controversial at one time? Find out.
With America’s history, you might think that a holiday recognizing men would be perfectly acceptable. After all, men dominated American society in the early 20th century. In addition, a “Father’s Day” or day that recognizes the role of fathers in the family is an ancient tradition. In history books, there is mention of a Southern European tradition dating back to 1508.
Certainly, in modern days, we do not give Father’s Day a second thought. It’s been almost 50 years since President Richard Nixon’s administration declared the third Sunday in June a day to recognize and honor the role of fathers in society (that occurred in 1972).
Father’s Day Controversy
Interestingly, Father’s Day was not immediately accepted when it was proposed. Why not?
Mother’s Day came first (it was officially recognized in 1914), so men in the early 1900s associated such a tribute with women and found the idea of a day for men too effeminate to their liking. To be fair, Mother’s Day was couched in terms of femininity.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson called Mother’s Day a way to recognize “that tender, gentle army—the mothers of America.”
Men viewed the idea of Father’s Day as similar to Mother’s Day, which was popular with florists; for fathers, it didn’t have the same sentimental appeal. As one historian writes, they “scoffed at the holiday’s sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products—often paid for by the father himself.”
Also, according to Lawrence R. Samuel, author of American Fatherhood: A Cultural History, men had a different role in the family during the first half of that century. It was patriarchal, so they felt that a special day to exalt fatherhood was a rather silly idea, when it was mothers who were underappreciated.
However, that sentiment changed over time for several reasons.
The Women Behind Father’s Day
Grace Golden Clayton
The first known Father’s Day service occurred in Fairmont, West Virginia, on July 5, 1908, after hundreds of men died in the worst mining accident in U.S. history.
Grace Golden Clayton, the daughter of a dedicated minister, proposed a service to honor all fathers, especially those who had died. However, the observance did not become an annual event, and it was not promoted; very few people outside of the local area knew about it. Meanwhile, across the entire country, another woman was inspired to honor fathers …
Sonora Smart Dodd
In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, was inspired by Anna Jarvis and the idea of Mother’s Day. Her father, William Jackson Smart, a farmer and Civil War veteran, was also a single parent who raised Sonora and her five brothers by himself, after his wife, Ellen, died giving birth to their youngest child in 1898. While attending a Mother’s Day church service in 1909, Sonora, then 27 years old, came up with the idea.
Within a few months, Sonora had convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA to set aside a Sunday in June to celebrate fathers. She proposed June 5, her father’s birthday, but the ministers chose the third Sunday in June so that they would have more time after Mother’s Day (the second Sunday in May) to prepare their sermons. Thus, on June 19, 1910, the first Father’s Day events commenced: Sonora delivered presents to handicapped fathers, boys from the YMCA decorated their lapels with fresh-cut roses (red for living fathers, white for the deceased), and the city’s ministers devoted their homilies to fatherhood.
Here’s a TV news segment that speaks to this:
The History of Father’s Day
2WTK digs into how Mother’s Day made Father’s Day possible.
In “Celebrating Songs About Dads for Father’s Day” last year, I wrote about jazz pianist and composer Horace Silver. I also wrote about Horace Silver here in 2023.
His composition, “Song For My Father,” has become a jazz standard:
There are numerous versions of his masterpiece:
[Verse 1]
This little song for my father
Does things that no other
Can do
As I sing it to you
It has a rhythm and a rhyme
That will fasten his memory
In time
As his beauty shines through
For through my mind and soul
My heart will always hold
A special place for him
It’s true
[Verse 2]
We bow our heads and we pray
Every day Father’s Day
And let’s review
All that he means to you
Our mother’s love is real nice
But old Dad sacrificed
For us too
Let us, let us give him his due
We’re very proud to be
In his biography
We sing this song for him
And you, you, you, you
I am a fan of all versions of the song but happen to favor Silver’s original, and this version from Leon Thomas:
Leon Thomas – Song For My Father (Official Audio)
Here are some others:
George Benson
Boney James
Carmen Souza | Song for my father | Satellit Café PARIS (2010)
Douyé – A Song For My Father (Quatro-Bossa Nova Deluxe)
Dee Dee Bridgewater – Song For My Father
Song For My Father | Michel Camilo
Louis Hayes – Song for My Father feat. Gregory Porter
There are plenty other tunes appropriate for this day:
Daddy (Album Version)
E-Daniels – My Father | Live | (Official Video)
And don’t forget this classic:
Luther Vandross – Dance With My Father (Official Video)
Join me in the comments section below to discuss your daddies, uncles, grandpas, and other men who made a difference in your life—and the music that honors them!
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