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Joyful Struggle

Joyful Struggle

When you imagine a movement or a protest, what do you see? What are people doing? What kinds of activities are they involved in?

Do the images in your mind include expressions of joy, moments of beauty, places for play?

These primary sources explore the topic of joyful struggle. First they show joy, play, pride, and beauty in Black and Latinx communities and in Disabled people’s communities. Too many historic representations of people of color and Disabled people only pay attention to what is difficult, hard, or painful.1 But these and other historically marginalized communities have also nurtured joy, love, and beauty in their own ways. Sharing joy could be one way to heal and affirm, to reinforce and build strength and community in the face of harsh or even violent treatment due to racism and ableism.2

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Secondly, these sources help us think about how joy can be political—that is, how it can be connected to and can even be a method of working to make change. Joy, beauty, and play are important parts of self-expression and self-determination. Black communities celebrated and reinforced their ways of knowing and being through expressions of joy, even when others did not see them as they wanted to be seen.3 Disabled communities created spaces for connection and celebration of disability.4 Joyful spaces that communities built for themselves countered what was wrong or lacking in other oppressive or exclusionary spaces. They gave Disabled people and Black and Latinx people opportunities to imagine new possibilities. And they nourished the strength and community ties that made other political movements possible.

For many people, ideas about childhood and joy go together. But not all children have been able to enjoy the joyful childhood they deserved, in part because of the consequences of racism and ableism. These primary source documents help us see times when young people and adults worked to create spaces for joy, beauty, and play in children’s lives—and how these spaces have been linked to children’s and adults’ sense of their own power to make change in the world.


  1. Many scholars and educators are pointing out this pattern. For a good summary of the problem and ways to respond in teaching Black history, see Jania Hoover, “Don’t Teach Black History Without Joy,” Education Week, February 19, 2021, accessed July 5, 2023, https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-dont-teach-black-history-without-joy/2021/02. ↩︎

  2. For example, see Crip Camp, directed by James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham (2020: James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham, and Sara Bolder), netflix.com; Renata Cherlise, Black Archives: A Photographic Celebration of Black Life (New York: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed, 2023). ↩︎

  3. Elaine Nichols, “Black Joy: Resistance, Resilience, and Reclamation,” National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, accessed July 5, 2023, https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/black-joy-resistance-resilience-and-reclamation. ↩︎

  4. Crip Camp, directed by Newnham and LeBrecht. See also s. e. smith, “The Beauty of Spaces Created For and By Disabled People,” An Unquiet Mind, Catapult, October 22, 2018, https://catapult.co/stories/the-beauty-of-spaces-created-for-and-by-disabled-people ↩︎

Book cover featuring a young black girl wearing a white dress, cape, and crown. The cape is tied at her wrists, which reach up, and she stands on her tiptoes, head tilted and smiling.

The Brownies’ Book

The NAACP published The Brownies’ Book magazine to teach Black children the history, achievements, and beauty of Black people in the United States.

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A group of Black and white children sit on steps beside a large stack of paper, making V signs with their hands and holding campaign signs.

Benjamin Franklin High School

New programs support East Harlem’s immigrant and migrant communities.

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Still image from video interview with Thomas Samuels, an older Black man, who signs.

Deaf Social Spaces

When sign language was banned in schools, Deaf students found a social space to communicate freely.

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A young man pitches a ball to a boy sitting in a wheelchair and holding a bat. Other children and young adults look ready to react.

Camp Jened

Camp Jened was the first camp of its kind in the United States designed for Disabled young people.

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Newspaper clipping

Double Dutch

Black New Yorkers created spaces for safe and joyful play for Black children through double dutch jump rope.

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Public School 47

undated, c. 1908

New York City opens its first public school for Deaf children.

The Brownies’ Book, January 1920, excerpts

January 1920

W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP launch the children’s magazine The Brownies’ Book.

The Brownies’ Book, February 1920, cover

February 1920

The Brownies’ Book prints its second issue.

The Brownies’ Book, April 1920, letters from readers

April 1920

The Brownies’ Book’s readers write back to the magazine.

The Role of the School in a Housing Program for the Community

undated, c. late 1930s

Benjamin Franklin High School students advocate for better housing for their East Harlem community.

Children Participating in a Public Campaign

undated, c. 1941-1945

Benjamin Franklin High School students participate in a wartime effort to conserve paper.

Club Borinquen

undated, c. 1940s-1950s

Benjamin Franklin High School students participate in “Club Borinquen” to celebrate their Puerto Rican identity.

Camp Jened - Real Camping for the Handicapped, cover

undated, c. mid-1950s to early 1960s

A brochure advertises Camp Jened to Disabled teens and adults around the country.

Memorandum to Counselors

undated

Camp Jened helps its counselors learn to support Disabled campers.

Camp Scholarships Will Be Awarded to Handicapped Adults

undated

United Cerebral Palsy spreads the word about Camp Jened.

Baseball

Mid-to-late 1960s

Campers play baseball at Camp Jened.

Reflections - August, 1967, excerpt

August 1967

Campers at Camp Jened write about their experiences.

Girls Jumping Double Dutch

Jun 2, 1976

Black girls jump Double Dutch.

Double Dutch, sculpture by John Ahearn, Intervale Ave. and Kelly St.

undated, c. 1981-1982

South Bronx teens jump Double Dutch.

New York Kids Jump for Prizes in Double Dutch Tourney

Jun 6, 1981

The Eighth Annual World International Double Dutch Competition is held at Lincoln Center.

History of Double Dutch

Jun 6, 1981

The Amsterdam News presents the history of Double Dutch.

The Disability Independence Day March

Jul 26, 1993

Disability Independence Day March participants gather under a banner quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rev. Malika Leigh Whitney and Double Dutch Dreamz

December 2019

Reverend Malika Leigh Whitney describes Double Dutch Dreamz.

Interview with Thomas Samuels

Oct 14, 2020

Thomas Samuels recalls his experiences as a Deaf teen in New York City.