Black Joy: A Healthy Conversation About Race

While watching a Black Lives Matter protest on the news, Joy notices that her parents are wearing the same t-shirts as the protesters. She looks at her father and asks, Daddy, why are we Black when our skin is brown? This question sparks a family conversation where Joy’s father explains the origins of race, as the family is transported into the protest march, and they walk through their community looking at the murals that they pass. Black Joy: A healthy conversation about race is a follow-up to Daddy Why Am I Brown? A healthy conversation about skin color and family. We pick up two years after Joy talks to her dad about skin color. Through Black Joy, we continue that conversation by directly addressing the concept of race from an age-appropriate perspective. Joy learns about the social rationale for inventing the idea of race. She also learns why it is important for Blackness to be transformed from a sign of oppression to an identity built of strength and resilience.