Compositions of Black Joy

Compositions of Black Joy: A Visual Chronicle of the Philadelphia Juneteenth Festival (2015-2022) is the companion book to Smith's 2023 photography exhibit entitled Documenting the Philadelphia Juneteenth Festival in Germantown: A Visual Chronicle of Community, Resilience and Freedom. Co-organized by the Johnson House Historic Site and Historic Germantown, the exhibit of close to 80 photographs spanning seven years was on view at the Germantown Historical Society from September 2023 through the Spring of 2024. Smith served as the Festival’s official event photographer for nearly a decade. Her images capture the joy, resilience, historical significance, pride and the enduring vitality of a northwest Philadelphia community and its connection to a powerful legacy of freedom, liberation and self-sufficiency. The book will feature color photographs from the exhibit, along with a selection of archival photographs from Juneteenth and Freedom Day celebrations from the early to mid-20th century, highlighting aspects of a rich, innovative and (sometimes) contentious legacy of civic celebrations organized by Blacks, for Blacks, in Philadelphia and nationwide that centered the themes of emancipation, liberation and freedom.