“I would love to open by inviting you to breathe with me.”

This is how Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts started her forum last Wednesday, Feb. 7, to mark the first Griot event of the 2024 Spring Series titled: “Black Joy: A Strategy for Healing, Freedom and Reckoning.” 

As a writer and thought-leader, Lewis-Giggetts “offers those who read her work and hear her speak an authentic experience; an opportunity to explore the intersection of culture, identity, and faith and spirituality at the deepest levels.”. 

She is the founder of HeARTspace, a community that utilizes storytelling and the art to serve those who have experienced trauma of any kind. She is also a former Assistant Professor of English and Black Studies at the Community College of Philadelphia.

Lewis-Giggetts has written many books and spoken on a number of platforms around the country on topics related to race and social justice, education, faith/spirituality, wellness, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Lewis-Giggetts started by highlighting events in her life that have caused her to examine Black joy. 

She explained that a couple years ago, she lost a friend to racial gun violence which caused her body to “break down.”

She explained how Black joy, for her, healed her in gaining back her resilience. This caused her to think philosophically about how joy interconnects with the human need to survive in a world where there is so little to be joyful about, especially for Black and brown people.

Lewis-Giggetts said that it is integral that institutions provide spaces and resources for Black and brown people to experience Black joy.

And while Lewis-Giggetts advocates for joy and affirming a sense of freedom for Black individuals, she also pleaded how the feeling of joy becomes connected with the feeling of rage as both of them are hard to control.

Her experiences with racial violence caused her to be cautious in life and to remain safe. This caused Lewis-Giggetts to feel a sense of rage. But she encouraged people who suffer as she did to always find joy in life because it will help them and their emotional and psychological well-being and safety. 

Lewis-Giggetts also discussed how sharing and being free to express yourself is conducive with truly feeling Black joy. She belives Sstriving for acceptance in society and within the self should be stressed in today’s culture.

Lewis-Giggetts ended with a Q&A from audience members that allowed her to elaborate on her struggle to find joy.

“Breath is foundational to me, and I want everyone to know that no matter what happens in life, you always have your breath,” said Lewis-Giggetts.

The 2024 Spring Series is cosponsored by the Counseling and Student Development Center, the Women’s Resource Center, the Freeman College of Management, the Department of Education, the National Society for Black Engineers, Bucknell Black Alumni Association, and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender. Funding is provided, in part, by the University Lectureship Committee and the Anti-Racism Fund.