Celebrating Black Love Day with Black Joy
Guest post from The Quarto Group, Read Your World’s 2025 Silver Sponsor
Valentine’s Day often gets the spotlight, but did you know there’s a beautiful, meaningful holiday dedicated to celebrating love in the Black community? Black Love Day, observed every February 13th, is a day to honor love in all its forms.
Black Love Day was founded in 1993 by Ayo Handy-Kendi, a visionary who saw the need for a healing space rooted in love and unity. The purpose of Black Love Day is to uplift the Black community through forgiveness, acceptance, and connection. With five tenets: love for the Creator, love for self, love for the Black family, love for the Black community, and love for the Black race, Black Love Day is a call to action for self-reflection and collective care.
It’s a day that feels particularly special as we approach the release of Black Joy, my picture book that celebrates love, connection, and the power of community through the eyes of a young boy named Jaden.
Jaden’s story is a love letter to the small, everyday moments that spark joy. Whether it’s the warm hug of a grandmother, the laughter shared with friends, or the pride of working together to beautify his neighborhood, Jaden shows us how love is everywhere when we take the time to notice it. At its heart, Black Joy highlights the importance of building something beautiful together just as Black Love Day reminds us of the beauty we can create when we honor and uplift one another.
Why should you celebrate or acknowledge Black Love Day? Because love is transformative. It’s healing. It strengthens families and fortifies communities. Black Love Day encourages us to focus on the love we share, the love we need, and the love we can give to make the world a better place for ourselves and future generations.
This February 13th, will you consider pausing to celebrate love in all its forms? Read a book that celebrates Black culture. Take time to reconnect with your community. And, if you have little ones, share Black Joy to remind them of the power of love in their everyday lives. Together, we can create something beautiful.
How will you spread love this Black Love Day?
Charnaie Gordon is a diversity and inclusion advocate, Educator, podcast host, and digital creator. She is also the author of the picture books Etta Extraordinaire Goes to the White House, A Kids Book About Diversity, Lift Every Voice and Change, and more. Charnaie’s blog, Here Wee Read, is where she expresses her creativity and passion for reading, diverse literature, and literacy. She’s also the founder of her children’s literacy nonprofit organization, 50 States 50 Books, Inc., where they collect and donate diverse children’s books to deserving kids in each of the fifty US states. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.
