94 Search results for "grief"

by Christian M. Ivey “What We Carry” is a powerful coming-of-age story that follows Drew, a young Black college student grappling with grief, anxiety, and the long shadow of racial trauma.  Get yo ass up, Drew! My alarm rang, a nasty, raggedy rang, almost soundin’ like it was yellin’ at me. Get yo ass up, […]

  by Julia Mallory “…but in them days they wasn’t no time for mournin.’ ” —Mary Reynolds, Texas Slave Narratives Volume XVI Part III Juneteenth began as a day of celebration commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas on June 19th, 1866. Since then, it has offered Black folks an opportunity to remember […]

I come from a whistling family. We like sound. The way tones release emotion, scent, possibility. The way whistling can shape and bend bone, can spellcast, can river. I sat at the feet of the women in my family often, feeling lucky and at home in their voices, their stories, the way they moved their […]

My heroes are never buried when they die, at least not at first. As soon as I hear the news, I borrow their face from their still chilling body to post alongside a hastily written message of grief and well-wishes. I want to be the earliest to write about their loss, for everyone to see […]

By Annie Alexandrian “We must leave evidence. Evidence that we were here, that we existed, that we survived and loved and ached. Evidence of the wholeness we never felt and the immense sense of fullness we gave to each other. Evidence of who we were, who we thought we were, who we never should have […]

by Amber Butts My maternal grandmother, Audrie, who was a second mother to me, was my first entry point in witnessing mutual aid in practice. She became a widow before the age of 21, followed by a long bout of alcoholism and depression. She experienced her share of heartbreak. She and my maternal grandfather were […]

by Jenn M. Jackson, PhD When I found out that George Zimmerman, the white-passing, mixed race Latinx man who killed Trayvon Martin on February 26th, 2012, was acquitted of all charges, I was sitting in a massive auditorium of Black women, all members of my sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. That night, we were in […]

by Jenn M. Jackson, PhD Almost a decade ago, I said goodbye to my editing position here at Black Youth Project. I was 33 years old, working on the final edits of my dissertation at the University of Chicago titled “Race, Risks, and Responses: Mapping Black American’s Reactions to Policing in the United States.” My […]

Creative expression did not begin with writing. It began with voice — with stories spoken across rooms, songs carried across distance, rhythms tapped into tabletops and knees when words alone could not hold what needed to be said. Long before notebooks, microphones, or publishing platforms, Black communities were shaping experience into sound and gesture so […]

by Miranda Goosby Chicago holds memory like a drum—echoing, constant, never still. This summer, the South Side sang in every register: fireworks cracking through the night sky, children shrieking with joy, organizers building futures block by block. Since Juneteenth, every weekend has felt like a pageant of presence. Brown skin shining like mirrors to the […]

by Miranda Goosby Grief isn’t always sad. Sometimes, grief is a portal. It cracks something open. It clears space. If we allow ourselves to surrender to the breaking, grief can become more than sorrow—it can reveal what’s been buried. It can offer honesty, possibility, and even joy. After the 2024 election, when yet another administration […]

By Johnae Strong  A film by Johnaé Strong Some works capture the beauty of Black life.Others hold its tension, its memory, its muscle.This one does all of that—and then breathes into it. Black Things Today, directed by Johnaé Strong, is a cinematic offering rooted in presence, ritual, and return. Told through the lives of three […]