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Celebrate Black Joy: This Week’s Best Uplifting Moments

By Bridgette Bartlett Royall ·Updated April 11, 2026 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

These days, it is easy to feel like the world is on fire: all of our bills are too high, we’re at war with Iran, the government is…Well, you know how stressful politics is right now. Our news cycle usually feels like one sad or depressing story after another. But, there is still an abundance of Black joy and Black excellence in our midst. So we’ve gathered up some of the week’s most cheerful news to help take your happy meter up a notch. Enjoy—and be sure to share this story in your favorite group chat. Every last one of us can use more joy in our lives! (Get last week’s joy here.)

Once a Big Brother, Always a Big Brother Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam who we all met and fell in with as Rudy on The Cosby Show, just celebrated her 47th birthday! Pulliam’s character Rudy often appeared alongside View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Keshia Knight Pulliam (@keshiaknightpulliam)

Jump to It! Who knew that the world’s oldest competitive rope skipper was an 82-year-old Black woman? Annie Judis has entered the chat. After feeling bored with conventional gym classes and machines, she bought a rope and said she was “shocked” to discover she could only jump for about 30 seconds before feeling winded. She challenged herself to jump for a full minute and the rest is literally history. Judis will be defending her Guinness World Record title this weekend in Tucson, AZ. We’re rooting for her but she’s already a winner in our book.

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A post shared by NYT Well (@nyt_well)

Mirror Time With Mama Morning affirmations are a daily routine in many households and they can especially prove beneficial to young Black children. Dr. Marie Mansaray-Lahai is a popular influencer and content creator focusing on lifetarget=”_blank”> View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dr. Marie Mansaray-Lahai 🇸🇱 (@rie_defined)

He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Dad Father-son relationships can get complicated during the late teen and young adult years. Which is partly why this moment we spotted on The Dad Gang of former NFL player Joshua Harris and her pops was too special to to share. Wealth is not always about money.

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A post shared by THE DAD GANG (@thedadgang)

Sisters With Voices There’s singing and then there is sanging! Which category do you think this falls in? The harmonies are impeccable and their unquestionable talent is enough to brighten any bad day, even if only for a moment. We appreciate Juli-Anne James for posting this uplifting video.

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A post shared by Juli-Anne James (@juliannejjames)

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The post Celebrate Black Joy: This Week’s Best Uplifting Moments appeared first on Essence.

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