Black joy, culture & resilience

Feelings can live side by side. Feeling joy doesn’t mean you’ve stopped caring about injustice, and feeling pain doesn’t cancel your joy.

Mental Health America encourages Black people to name what brings them happiness and make time for it, as part of protecting their mental health.

Mental Health America names family, community connection and artistic expression as great sources of strength for Black communities.

Mental Health America notes the “strong Black woman” stereotype, and that Black men are often expected to show little vulnerability. That pressure can make it harder to ask for help.

Research reviewed by Mental Health America finds social and emotional support is one of the most important protective factors for Black mental health.

Mental Health America notes that storytelling and oral traditions pass on history, wisdom and values from one generation to the next.

Historian Carter G. Woodson started Negro History Week in 1926, in the second week of February. It grew into Black History Month, which President Gerald Ford urged Americans to honour in 1976.

Ways to learn

• Ask elders about their lives
• Read Black authors and poets
• Visit a Black history museum, in person or online
• Watch documentaries with family

Storytelling passes on wisdom and values across generations. Recording a grandparent’s memories, or writing down family recipes, keeps those roots alive.

Pride can include your island, country, language or the mix of cultures you come from. There is no single right way to be Black.

Research links cultural pride messages from parents with healthier self-views and better relationships in children of color.

Spirituals, hymns and gospel music have carried messages of hope through generations. Singing with others is one of the arts the World Health Organization links to wellbeing.

Faith communities often share meals, celebrations and care in hard times. Mental Health America lists spiritual communities among places where Black people find healing.

Even among Black Americans with no religious affiliation, 90% believe in God or a higher power. Quiet prayer, meditation, time in nature or ancestral practices can all feed the spirit.

Black music has shaped the world. Playing, singing or simply listening to music that moves you can help you feel calmer or more alive.

Try this

• Make a “lift me up” playlist
• Sing in a choir or with friends
• Learn a song an elder loves
• Put on music while you cook or clean

Dancing is one of the arts activities the World Health Organization links to better wellbeing. It moves your body and often brings people together.

Mental Health America lists spoken word, poetry and storytelling among cultural practices that heal and connect.

Creative hobbies can give you a sense of flow and pride. Passing down a family recipe or craft also passes down love.

• A short nap
• Sitting outside with no phone
• Saying no to one extra task
• An unplanned Saturday morning

Mental Health America links chronic racial stress, including viral videos of Black death, to anxiety, depression and trauma. Taking breaks is self-protection, not ignoring the world.

Mental Health America quotes the poet Audre Lorde, who wrote that caring for herself was not self-indulgence but self-preservation.

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, telling the people of Texas that all enslaved people were free. This came two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth became a U.S. federal holiday when the law was signed on June 17, 2021.

Mental Health America describes wide kinship networks, like aunties, play cousins and godparents, as support passed down through generations. Reunions keep those bonds strong.

What began as Carter G. Woodson’s Negro History Week in 1926 became a month-long celebration in 1976.

Celebrating wins, big and small, helps you notice good things. The Small joys & savoring guide explains why sharing good news with others makes it feel even better.

Mental Health America lists barbershops and beauty salons among places Black people find support. Health programs have taken mental health information to barbershops and churches because they are trusted.

BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective) runs healing circles and trains community members in peer support.

Through Brother, You’re on My Mind, NIMHD and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity share mental health information, and some chapters end meetings with a wellness check-in.

Mentoring, volunteering, mutual aid and organizing are ways to turn care into action. Mental Health America frames activism as one form of self-preservation.

• Call someone who makes you laugh
• Eat a favourite family dish
• Listen to one song that lifts you
• Step outside for a few minutes

Sharing stories, food and even laughter after a funeral is a way many families honour a life. Joy and grief can sit at the same table.

If you’ve lost interest in things you used to love for a long stretch, it may be more than a hard week. A therapist or clinical provider can help.