Lucy Baber’s series “100 Black Dads” dispels harmful stereotypes about black fathers in America.

When photographer Lucy Baber began her project “100 Black Dads,” she wanted to dispel the myth that most black fathers in America are absentee parents. This stereotype has prevailed in popular discourse and political debates, despite the fact that studies have found that the majority of black fathers live with their children, and those who do are the most involved fathers compared to other races. Further complicating the issue is the fact that a disproportionate number of black men are jailed because of institutionalized racism.

As a mother of two in Philadelphia, Baber herself has witnessed how misleading the stereotype is. “I’ve noticed that black fathers make up the majority of parents at the playground,” she says. “It frustrated me that the dads I knew were showing up every day, doing hard work, but weren’t being represented.”

Baber, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was raised in a predominantly white rural area in central Pennsylvania. She grew up highly aware of her own ethnicity and recognized the importance of representation for people who may not be exposed to diversity in their daily lives. Through her work, Baber hopes to lift the voices of minorities and challenge harmful stereotypes.

In 100 Black Dads, fathers are given the opportunity to share their stories. Baber didn’t limit the project to fathers who live with their kids full time; consequently, she has worked with many dads who care deeply about their kids, but have limited custody. “I learned so much through this project, particularly on the difficulties of being a black dad in the court system and fighting for custody over your child,” she notes.

Over the course of the project, Baber has met and worked with an incredibly diverse group of fathers, and keeps in touch with some of them beyond their sessions. One day, one of the fathers she became friends with posted online about his experience getting pulled over by a cop and how frightened he was as a result of his experience. “The stories on the news are not fairytales, they’re people’s lives,” she says. “When you hear about a black man being assaulted by police, that means somebody’s dad didn’t come home at night, and I really wanted to be able to show that to the rest of the world.”

Each session she hosts is different depending on family dynamics and the fathers’ stories. One of the fathers she worked with had lost his daughter in a road rage incident when she was 18, which translated into a session looking over newspaper clippings and photos of the daughter. Another father had an autistic child, which meant that he had to navigate his son’s needs throughout the shoot. While sessions like these are emotionally challenging for Baber to complete, she feels a duty in telling each father’s story.

Baber cherishes these fathers’ trust in sharing their hopes, dreams and fears with her. The project has served as a reminder of how we all must check our biases, no matter how informed we might think we are. “It has opened up conversations with other people who might otherwise not be comfortable talking about race or bias,” she says. She hopes that her intimate presentation of each father’s story will make them universally relatable, allowing viewers to notice the similarities they share instead of the differences that may set them apart.

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