Black Joy

Communities coming together to find and share Black joy with intention. That idea has grown over time. Black joy is images of q***r folks demanding to be seen.

Back in February 2017, reporter Starr Dunigan wrote a series of stories about Black folks doing positive things in their communities. From a nonprofit teaching children and teens to fight the violence of the streets through poetry, to the brothers who wouldn't let their autism define them, Starr wanted the world to see the melanin-coated magic. In fall 2020, Reckon began a weekly series highlighti

ng the liberatory power of Black Southerners experiencing joy by expressing their full selves. We know that reveling in the joy that oppressive forces in the South have always tried to strip away from us is an act of defiance and, therefore, liberation. Black joy is stories of young organizers taking back political power. It's the music that just makes us feel better after a week of enduring microaggressions and community trauma. We collect these Black joy moments and deliver them to you every week via our newsletter - sign up here: https://www.reckon.news/newsletters/black-joy/

Let's get free.

04/07/2026

🗣️Listen up! The kids have something to say to you.

The teens of challenge myths about today’s youth and how you can empower them to strive for their dreams! ✨

03/18/2026

Celebrating “Sinners” Oscar wins wouldn’t be complete without supporting the Mississippi town that inspired the film: Clarksdale! 🎬

Director Ryan Coogler felt called to create the movie after learning about his own familial roots in the Magnolia State. Just like its soil, the Mississippi Delta is rich with a culture that’s been archived by Black Mississippians in multiple ways. Their heritage is simmered into their food and composed into their music.

These stories are waiting to be brought to the screen, stage, canvas and other artistic mediums. The community is there to make this goal possible. They just need your help!

Let’s make sure that the spotlight on Clarksdale doesn’t stop with “Sinners.” Click the links the comments to help Clarksdale today!

02/17/2026

Rev. Jesse Jackson joining the ancestors wasn’t on our Black History Month bingo cards 😭

The civil rights icon and two-time presidential candidate left behind a powerful legacy before passing away today at the age of 84. As the protege of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Jackson used his masterful oration to invigorate people’s fight for liberation. He founded the Rainbow Coalition, uniting a multiracial, multicultural and LGBTQ-inclusive group of working-class Americans in the pursuit towards economic and racial equality.

On August 27, 1983, during the 20th anniversary of the March on Washington, Rev. Jackson encouraged thousands of people to continue the march for justice. Segregation may be over, he said, but inequality was still rampant in the country.

His words still ring true today. May we all heed his call to “march on” and “dream on” for the betterment of all humanity.

Rest in power legend! ✊🏾

02/12/2026

Now y’all know we turn up for Black history year round ✊🏿!

But we just had to do a lil’ something for the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. Prepare for more content highlighting today’s history makers and Black memory keepers. We’ll also be exploring ways that history has challenged us to be a better society.

Learn more about our “History is Now” project by clicking the link in the comments! 🖱️

02/04/2026

The Grammys ushered in Black History Month in the most perfect way 🙌🏾

This is by no means a complete list of all the Black excellence that took place that took place during Music's Biggest Night! So what was your favorite Black joy moment? 🎶

01/30/2026

A time was had at 📚

Revolutionary scholar and activist Angela Davis schooled us about the importance of seeing freedom as a practice and need to work together to achieve collective liberation around the world! 🌎

Her powerful wisdom kicked off an insightful lecture series hosted by . In this clip, Angela Davis reveals how Black people alchemize joy from struggle despite the long, 500-year-old fight for freedom. ✊🏾

🎥 by

01/27/2026

Monday, Jan. 26, marked the 82nd birthday of radical activist, author and professor Angela Davis 💐

A daughter of the Civil Rights Movement from Birmingham, Alabama, Davis is a leader who continues to shape the global conversation around Black liberation. Angela Davis shares her transformative wisdom with a clarity that challenges and expands the mindsets of America and beyond. Her words push us to recognize and dismantle the prison-industrial complex so that we may move closer to a truly free world.

In this 1972 interview, Davis reflects on what it means to be revolutionary. With the rise of recent protests against federal immigration agents and our current presidential administration, her message remains as urgent and powerful as ever.

Y’all might as well go ahead and call this week Angela Davis Week, because we got a few pieces of content coming your way out with her name on it. This is just part one. Stay tuned!

01/07/2026

Screaming happy birthday to Zora Neale Hurston, born in 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama!

Her childhood in Eatonville, Florida — the nation’s first incorporated Black town — surrounded her with examples of the richness of Black Southern life. That upbringing fueled the vibrancy of her writing as both an anthropologist and author. In the scientific field of anthropology, objectivity was a must. But Zora ditched that tradition, blurring the lines between participant and observer. She toured the South and the Caribbean to document Black storytelling and spirituality at a time when racists were mocking Blackness through blackface and minstrel shows. Hoodoo, folklore and other expressions of Black Southern joy called to her soul — and she preserved that culture in works like “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Mules and Men.”

The influence of her fiction and folklore transcends time. So much so that two of her works were published decades after her passing: “The Life of Herod the Great” and “Barracoon,” which features her interviews with Oluale Kossula, one of the last survivors of the final slave ship who lived in Alabama under his enslaved name, Cudjo Lewis.

May Zora forever inspire us — both as writers and as people. Grateful for spaces like the for continuing her legacy ✨.

01/01/2026

Today is more than just a new year, y'all. It's also 222 years of Haitian independence!

A reminder that an enslavement revolt led to the birth of the world's first free Black republic. How are y'all celebrating Independence Day?

12/22/2025

Santa Claus is coming to town and he is BLACK! 🎅🏾

Black Joy founder Starr D Journalist chats with DeCorey Hale about why the gift of representation is important for both the kiddos and the elders. You can read more about DeCorey and how his father's last Christmas wish inspired his Black Santa journey by checking out the comments!

09/29/2025

Anyone else baptize themselves in the liberating wisdom of Assata Shakur following her passing on Thursday ? ✋🏿

We gained a powerful ancestor who has been called many things recently. A few headlines referred to her as a fugitive. But to us, she is a foremother of the revolution. She spoke an ethos of commitment and care that should be embedded in all movement work✊🏾!

What’s your favorite message from Assata Shakur?

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