Black Joy Experience Resource Guide

After the 2016 presidential election, BYP100 members realized that if key individuals weren’t present, their chant and song culture often faded during gatherings. This highlighted a gap—many members weren’t familiar with how to use freedom songs and liberation chants as tools for healing, centering, and connection. In response, the Black Joy Experience Resource Guide was created to break down barriers and make these practices accessible to all Black organizers. Rooted in a Black queer feminist lens, this guide empowers anyone—whether at a Kiki Ball, a healing circle, or a direct action—to lead, create, and use chants strategically. It champions accessibility, creativity, and joy as essential elements of movement work.

Joy isn’t just a means to an end—it is the end. It is why we gather, why we fight, and why we sustain ourselves through holistic energy. Until the day we no longer have to fight for this reality, we will continue, for the future of Black lives.