ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents a case study of Hoveys. The Hovey family—a black father, a white mother, and four strapping sons, all of whom starred as linemen or linebackers on the high-school football team—provides a starting point for examining the paradoxes, constraints, and contradictions that characterize the lives of African American teenagers in Parlington. For two consecutive summers, the Hovey Porch became the author's front row seat for observing the world of young African American males. From a certain vantage point, the Hoveys look like a typical middle-class family. All of the Hovey brothers were involved with organized activities, primarily football, lacrosse, and wrestling, at a young age and continued through high school. The author gradually came to know the Hovey family after she interviewed the second of the four brothers, Izzy Hovey, in the summer following his freshman year at Parlington High.
