Black Joy! Joyful Books You Need to Read Before the End of Black History Month
Something about this Black History Month calls for more than the same cycle of stories. After two solid years of a pandemic, during that time experiencing the hope of a racial reckoning followed by hope dashed through politics as usual and empty gestures, to talk about just Black pain and trauma during it just doesn’t feel right.
It’s time for us to reflect on Black Joy.
But what is Black Joy?
Is it coming in to grandma’s house and smelling a home-cooked meal? Is it at the cookout when “Before I Let Go” by Maze and Frankie Beverly comes on? Is it in the hymns of the church or the camaraderie of the basketball court or double Dutch ropes? Is it in the barbershop banter or beauty salon therapy sessions? Is it a session of the feel goods, or does it tap into the true liberation for which our ancestors craved?
Each of the following books answers that question in its own way. From the silly to the sustaining, from the hilarious to the hopeful, here is a collection of beautiful joyful Black books that are full of inspiring, uplifting, and encouraging books that you need to get to reading for a joyful Black History Month.
