Black Classics Reading List Created by Chelsea Yvonne
In the spirit of Juneteenth, free your mind!Â
These Black literary classics are worth a read or re-read.Â
Gratitude to Chelsea Yvonne for compiling this list of all-time greats.
🌤️ Clarity After Chaos [...]

Hidden Black Film Herstory: Stompin at the Savoy | Directed by Debbie Allen
Sometimes Black women’s films are praised for being “nice,” “nostalgic,” or “beloved,” while the craft gets undercounted. Stompin’ at the Savoy was not just charming. It was skilled. It was layered. It had emotional architecture [...]

For the Hate Crimes Prevention Act: Affirmations for Black People Carrying Too Much Hate from Too Many Directions
racism chases us down for miles.....
On this day, the anniversary of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009. It expanded fede [...]
Emotional Bandwidth: Why You Sometimes Can’t Be There for People You Love | Dr. Tracey Marks
Emotional bandwidth explained: why cognitive load and stress make empathy harder, and why low bandwidth looks like emotional unavailability in relationships. Take my FREE 3-min Brain Quiz to master focus & [...]

A Juneteenth Reflection for SurvivorAffirmations: Not a Bill. A Bridge.
Some of us grew up hearing about sacrifice in ways that hurt.
“I did everything for you.”
“After all I gave up.”
“You owe me.”
Those words can land heavy in the body when love has been tied to guilt. Survivor [...]

10 Facts About Lift Every Voice and SING!
So my childhood was spent learning this song. We sang this and other songs like it for assemblies. I get out into the world and learn not only have others not heard the song but they see it as "hateful"?
Me: But you don't kn [...]

There Are Souls Beyond the Scoreboard: A History Lesson in Hope, Radio, and Second Wind (podcast episode)
We are not living in the time of afterschool specials, radio dedications, and songs that reached through the static to touch a hurting child’s heart.
So sometimes we have to borrow from the past.
We have to go back to song [...]

Before You Yell “Cocaine,” Learn What 1980s Black Joy Looked Like
The 1980s Were Competitive Joy
A room full of Black people dancing hard.
A Black singer sweating through a performance.
A Soul Train line with everybody dressed like joy had somewhere important to be.
A big Black [...]

Dr. Tracey Marks: People Who Drain You vs. People Who Energize You
Why do some people calm your brain while others drain it? One of our favorite psychiatrists, Dr. Tracey Marks, explains how your nervous system regulates with safe people—plus a simple body check.
[...]
What “Find 100 Ways” Teaches Us About Uplifting the People We Love
There are some songs that do not simply play.
They enter the room.
They adjust the light.
They sit beside you with a kind of grown tenderness and remind you that love was never supposed to feel careless.
James Ingram [...]
The Playlist: Funk, Soul, and Body Release
Some anxiety does not need another explanation. It needs a doorway out of the body.
Sometimes anxiety does not leave through thinking. Sometimes it leaves through the shoulders. Through the jaw. Through the hands. Through the b [...]

The Empty Nest is a Healing Space
The empty nest is not the end of motherhood.
It may be the beginning of a woman’s re-encounter with herself.
Not just a quiet house.
Not just “the children are gone now.”
Not just a season people joke about with sadness, lon [...]
When Dismissal Tries to Turn You Against Your Own Body
“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.” Toni Morrison
Mistreatment often tries to make th [...]

Elizabeth Packard: The Woman They Called Insane Until She Changed the Law
Elizabeth Packard was not simply a “wronged wife.”
She was a mother. A thinker. A religious dissenter. A wife under the rule of a husband who believed disagreement was disobedience. She was a woman living under laws that trea [...]
Affirmations for Patients Who Are Afraid They Will Not Be Heard at the Doctor’s Office
There is a particular kind of tired that comes from knowing something is happening in your body, then having to gather your strength to explain it to someone who may or may not listen.
Some patients walk into the doctor’s offic [...]

Different Go-Go, Same Refusal to Disappear into Misery
I just discovered something beautiful.
There are two kinds of “GoGo.”
One was born in Washington, DC.
One comes from Tanzania.
And somehow, both are rooted in survival.
Many of us Black Americans kno [...]
Mama I Love You: Women Are Amazing, Unique, and Special!
Tyron Woodley’s mother congratulates Kamaru Usman at UFC 235
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"It's all good, baby. It's all good. It's your turn. It ain't his turn."Â
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Please, do not ever let anyone convince you of false th [...]

Ketty Lester: Honor the Firsts, Remember the Closed Doors
Ketty Lester deserves more than a passing mention. She deserves the kind of appreciation that slows the room down.
Born Revoyda Frierson in Hope, Arkansas, she came from a farming family and grew into a singer and actress whose [...]

The 12 Somatic Knots of Trauma — The Complete Map from Sacrum to Jaw (and How to Untie Them)
updated from March 24, 2024
Somatic healing is not just “take a deep breath and calm down.”
Sometimes your body is holding a story your mouth got tired of telling.
Your shoulders may remember what you had to carry.
[...]
AFFIRMATIONS AND SELF LOVE
HEALING JOURNEY
Life Calls Us to Evolve Culturally Too: Sinners Dancers Revealed !! Juke Joint Scene Explained — Dance Styles, Symbolism & Forgotten History
Life does not call us to evolve through advancements in technology only. Life calls us to evolve culturally as well.Â
Without cultural evolution:
[...]
Blooming Through the Hard Days: Affirmations for Gentle Healing
🌸 Comforting Floral Affirmations
I am learning to be kind to myself, even when my heart feels heavy.
Healing is not linear—it is a garden, and I [...]
I Choose Me Over Their Opinions. Every Time.
SurvivorAffirmations.com | Inspired by WeSurviveAbuse.com
They have opinions about your story.Your tone.Your timing.Your truth.
But they didn’ [...]
CONFIDENCE/POWER/RESILIENCE

🌿 Dear Woman Who Has Decided to Heal in Private
I see you.
Not the version you show the world.Not the smile you put on so no one asks too many questions.Not the polite nods, the quick conversations [...]
đź’Ą Boundaries Are Health Care (Yes, I Said What I Said)
Let’s go ahead and set the record straight:Boundaries are not rude.They’re not mean.They’re not "doing too much."They are health care.
That’s right [...]

Dorothy Porter Wesley: The Woman Who Transformed the Dewey Decimal System
Libraries are often called the gateways to knowledge. But have you ever wondered who decides how books get organized? For over a century, most libra [...]
HEALTHING JOURNEY
Depression: Reaching Out for Help IS Strength (w/Resources)
 Strong people experience depression. The times that we are living in now are not just tough, they are also culturally transitional. That can bring o [...]
Survivor Spotlight: Barbara J Hansen
Survivor Spotlight: Barbara J Hansen [...]
🌿 You Were Never Meant to Live for Their Applause (w/playlist)
Survivor, I see you.Maybe you’ve been praised for being strong. Maybe you’ve been ignored for being too real.Either way, too many of us were taught th [...]
🔥 20 Fire-Burning Affirmations for Black Girls Who Were Never Protected
You deserved to be shielded, nurtured, and fiercely loved. These words are for the girl you were and the woman you are becoming.
They [...]
She Is AMAZING
For the One Who Feels Ashamed of How She Survived
Some of us look back on how we coped, and the shame rushes in.
You didn’t tell.You froze.You smiled through it.You went back.You blamed yourself.You [...]
The Black Woman Who Invented AI Before It Existed (w/affirmations)
✨ Affirmations for Women Who See Differently
My vision is a gift; I honor the way I see the world.
I trust my insights, even when they [...]
Hidden Black Film Herstory: Stompin at the Savoy | Directed by Debbie Allen
Sometimes Black women’s films are praised for being “nice,” “nostalgic,” or “beloved,” while the craft gets undercounted. Stompin’ at the Savoy was no [...]
Sheila Johnson: When the Path Changes, I Do Not Shrink—I Reimagine
I am not limited by what did not work.I am expanded by what I now know.I dream again—and this time, I dream with power.
There are women who succeed.
[...]
Playing by Heart: Alberta Hunter and the Power of Soul Wisdom
Alberta Hunter’s life was a testament to the power of the "unpolished" authentic soul. She was a woman who conquered the world's stages, walked away t [...]
ART HEALS
WE Gotta Learn to Give People Care, Respect, and Love Before They are Gone (w/video)
We can be so cruel to one another.
We are the reason that we hide from one another and turn away from each other.Â
When the mother of his firs [...]
This Is Why I Study Our Art — Deeply, Tenderly, Proudly
There comes a time when I grow beyond saying:
“That’s just old.”
“Just something from back then.”
“Just music, just fashion, just dancing.”
No.
O [...]
Black American Holiday Movie Binge
Thanks to these two wonderful creators for sharing this list with us. And thanks to all the creators....the actors, writers, caterers, assistants, p [...]
Remember the Time: Memory Remembers Meaning, Not Calendars
Memory does not keep time the way clocks do.
It keeps impact.
It keeps feeling.
It keeps the moments when something inside us recognized truth befo [...]
JOURNALING/WRITING IN A HEALTHIER WORLD
WE Survive Abuse Podcast
















