Although James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) and Porochista Khakpour's Sons and Other Flammable Objects (2007) emerge from distinct racial, historical, and cultural traditions, both novels position the father-son relationship at the center of identity formation. Rather than treating fatherhood as a private domestic relationship, each novel presents paternal authority as the primary means through which collective histories, cultural values, and systems of belonging are transmitted across generations. This essay argues that Gabriel Grimes and Khakpour's Iranian immigrant patriarch attempt to preserve worlds already fractured by historical violence. Gabriel's authority is shaped by the enduring legacy of slavery, Black Christianity, and racial segregation, while Khakpour's patriarch embodies the memories of revolution, exile, and migration. Their sons inherit not only paternal expectations but also racialized understandings of masculinity, home, and national belonging. Reading these novels comparatively reveals that paternal inheritance extends beyond family relationships to encompass broader historical structures that continue to shape diasporic and racial identities. While Baldwin depicts religion as the principal medium through which historical trauma is transmitted, Khakpour locates similar processes within migration, displacement, and racialization after the Iranian Revolution and September 11. Bringing these traditions into dialogue demonstrates that fatherhood functions less as a source of stability than as a contested site where race, history, and identity are continually negotiated.