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Black Joy  By  cover art

Black Joy

By: Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts
Narrated by: Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts
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Publisher's summary

Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Instructional

With deeply personal and uplifting essays in the vein of Black Girls Rock!, You Are Your Best Thing, and I Really Needed This Today, this is “a necessary testimony on the magic and beauty of our capacity to live and love fully and out loud” (Kerry Washington).

When Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts wrote an essay on Black joy for The Washington Post, she had no idea just how deeply it would resonate. But the outpouring of positive responses affirmed her own lived experience: that Black joy is not just a weapon of resistance, it is a tool for resilience.

With this book, Tracey aims to gift her community with a collection of lyrical essays about the way joy has evolved, even in the midst of trauma, in her own life. Detailing these instances of joy in the context of Black culture allows us to recognize the power of Black joy as a resource to draw upon, and to challenge the one-note narratives of Black life as solely comprised of trauma and hardship.

“Lewis-Giggetts etches a stunning personal map that follows in her ancestors’ footsteps and highlights their ability to take control of situational heartbreak and tragedy and make something better out of it….A simultaneously gorgeous and heartbreaking read” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

©2022 Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts. All rights reserved. Some essays in this collection appeared In slightly different form in the following publications and have been published with permission: "Dancing in the Rain and the Power of Black Joy as Resistance," The Washington Post, June 2020. "The Blacker the Love," Essence, March/April 2021. "Someday It Might Snow in April: The Healing Power of Prince" as "Nothing Compares 2 Prince," Dame Magazine, April 2016. "Born to Wash Cars," MyBrownBaby.com, October 2014. "Do You Love What You Feel?" as "How Bodywork Helped Me Find Healing From Trauma," Catapult Magazine, April 2020. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Featured Article: 175+ of the Best Quotes from Black Authors, Activists, Entrepreneurs, and Artists to Celebrate Black History Month


Black History is American History. Whether writers, poets, activists, entertainers, scientists, entrepreneurs, or some combination thereof, Black people have frequently offered exactly the right words when they were needed most. This sweeping collection of wise, stirring, and thought-provoking words from Black Americans offers much to inspire all Americans.

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What listeners say about Black Joy

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Well written, inspiring and absolutely relatable!

Whew! It would take a dissertation to adequately unpack the gems in this book! My favorite chapter is Chapter 7- “Smells like Blackness” which poetically and masterfully expresses the universality and collective diasporic experience of black joy! TRULY “the bite of our bounce back.” Well done!

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Unforgettable

You don’t read/listen to this book, you experience it!
I’ll be forever changed by this book.

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Intentionally Read

This carefully curated collection is daring, bold, emotional and fun. Remarkable work! I look forward to more from Tracey.

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A must read/listen!!

To anyone who loves, knows or is a black woman this book gives insight into many varied experiences and speaks life.

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Review of this book

It was a delight hearing this book. experiencing it. listening to her references oh it just made my heart glad. thank you Tracy!!!!

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An awesome read... more than once

This is so good I and to purchase a paper copy so I can highlight and take notes. I felt heard throughout and recommend this to anyone on a journey to find and experience and abundance of Black Joy.

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thought provoking and inspiring

A different perspective on a recurrent topic of #BLM
inspiring stories by the author
a story of resilience

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Black Joy

I love the idea and experience of black joy, I've needed this for a while now and Tracey delivered !!!

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Where is the Joy?

I struggled to finish this book. It is too heavy. The author sounds exhausted. Triggers galore. I was looking for something light to get away from the heavy stuff I was reading but this book spends too much time rehashing the traumas of Black life that I am retraumatized. She talks about Black joy but I didn't find it here. Moving on


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