The Warrior Method: A Program for Rearing Healthy Black Boys

The Warrior Method is a program designed for parents and teachers to help young black boys to become strong, self-reliant, independent men. This program looks at a male's life as seasonal: spring, conception to four years old; summer, ages five through twelve; autumn, ages thirteen through twenty-one; and winter, age twenty-two through the remainder of the man's life. Within these seasons are the "Birthing Circle" for mothers and their newborns, and the "Young Warriors Council" as the boys get older.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, black males die at a rate fifteen times higher than that of white males because of homicidal violence. In 1999, the Sentencing Project reported that 32 percent of black males between the ages of twenty and twenty-nine are in contact with the criminal justice system, whether it be through indictment, incarceration, probation, or parole. Using current rates of first incarceration, the justice Department estimates that 28 percent of black males will enter state or federal prisons during their lifetime. In response to these devastating statistics, psychologist, educator, and father Dr. Winbush has created The Warrior Method. It shows how to protect, educate, and guide boys safely through the minefields of a dangerous and prejudiced society.

Raymond A. Winbush, Ph.D. is the Director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Oakwood College in Alabama and received a fellowship to attend the University of Chicago, where he earned both his master's degree and Ph.D. in psychology. He has taught at Oakwood College, Alabama A&M, Vanderbilt University, and Fisk University. He is the recipient of numerous grants, including one from the Kellogg Foundation to establish a "National Dialogue on Race." He is the author of The Warrior Method: A Parents' Guide to Rearing Healthy Black Boys, the former treasurer and executive board member of the National Council of Black Studies, and is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Black Studies. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.