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The new ‘Compositions of Black Joy’ book launches next week; will examine Germantown as a crucial ‘What If’ in Black liberation

In 2022, Tieshka K. Smith and the Johnson House partnered to bring Germantown the “Documenting The Juneteenth Festival in Germantown” exhibition, which chronicled the festival between 2015-2022. Three years later, the story pushes forward with her new photo book, “Compositions of Black Joy.” Readers can relive the exhibition through the book and gain a clearer understanding of why Germantown is a centerpiece for Black liberation, connecting other celebrations across time.

The front cover of the Compositions of Black Joy book, designed by Beth Miner, a local designer. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)

After a gig to document Germantown’s Juneteenth Festival, the domino effect was in full swing for one former neighborhood resident. It became an opportunity to curate an exhibit based on her photos, which she’ll now see immortalized in book form.

“Compositions of Black Joy” drops next week, and it not only chronicles Tieshka K. Smith’s festival sightings through her lens over seven years but also examines the throughline of liberation and joy across Black communities, including Germantown, spanning centuries.

Tieshka K. Smith with her new photo book, Compositions of Black Joy, in front of Ultimo Coffee. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)

“Germantown is ground zero for all of this,” Smith asserted.

Smith’s newest body of work, first and foremost, acknowledges the importance of the fateful day in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, when enslaved Black folks received the news that they were, in fact, freedmen and -women.

She then takes it a step further, imploring readers to ask, “What if?” to illustrate the importance of our two-mile-spanning neighborhood within the larger context of liberation.

What if the Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery never happened? It certainly follows the domino effect theme of Smith’s trajectory as a creative.

The petition mentioned above was the first-ever written plea against slavery in what became the United States back in 1688 — 177 years before Juneteenth. It certainly doesn’t discount what already is but instead bats that critical question to remind people that resistance is timeless.

A critical point of research for Smith was also examining what celebrations and functions were being thrown in Philadelphia fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation, which came two years before Juneteenth. 

Within that, she came across the Pennsylvania Emancipation Exposition, which spanned 20 days and saw over 100,000 attendees to celebrate African American achievements and progress. And while you can read or hear about it, it’s not something you can see, as Smith uncovered no photographic evidence of the celebration exists.

And so came yet another poignant plea from Smith to readers and Black communities alike: ensure documentation in all possible ways.

“It’s so important to invest in folks like me, to document these events,” the author shared. “Not just to be able to say it happened, but we can have these records to agree on things.”

Her own experience, being called to serve as the official documentarian of the longest-running Juneteenth festival in Philadelphia, serves as this book’s own “what if,” as this interview would not even exist if not for the seven-year record before it.

Smith said that documentation is the subtext, though not explicitly mentioned in the book. Whether it’s a photo or ephemera, having that evidence “makes it easier for us to grow things and evolve things from points where we can agree upon things.”

She credits Cornelia Swinson and the Johnson House as a key example of why documenting these kinds of festivals are important, but also help build other connections like those readers will see inside “Compositions of Black Joy.”

“What Connie is doing isn’t new,” Smith said. “But it’s unique to what it means to be Black and what it means to be joyful in terms of what are we creating for ourselves.”

Swinson, the Johnson House’s executive director, says that when she implored Smith to do this documentation, it was because she began to understand the importance.

“So often we have conversations, but nothing to document these conversations,” she exclaims, pivoting to use Smith’s work around the festival to make her point. “It shows how we’ve grown, why it’s important, and how we’ve connected with the community.”

The contents include photographs from past celebrations in regions like Richmond, Virginia, in 1905 or celebrations in Houston, Texas’s Emancipation Park, in the 1880s. These different visuals of celebration help underscore how joy and celebration have been exercised over time.

Smith also invites readers to think more critically about how Black joy can be framed and enacted away from trauma and oppression. Away from trauma, Smith says, “[Black folks] still find time to smile [for] and embrace each other and spend our money with each other and clap for each other.”

“And you see all those moments at the festival,” Smith said, lending sentiment to how those distinct moments of joy away from tragedy are exemplified within the book.

Following the pillars of the “Documenting Juneteenth Festival in Germantown” exhibition, previously housed at the Germantown Historical Society, the book splits the photos of the festival between 2015 and 2022 to capture the essence of joy within four themes: Black Families, Evolution, Joyful Celebration, and Movement.

While all those photos are included in the text, Smith says they are “just a starting point.” Smith reveals that she wasn’t originally supposed to curate the exhibition, but after abrupt changes, she took the role and settled on the four aforementioned themes.

However, the author says “Compositions of Black Joy” is the story she would tell if she had the time and space when originally planning the exhibition. She used the exhibition to contemplate people’s possible further questions and said, “That’s when the magic happened.”

Away from the materials within the book, the Germantown Info Hub was interested to know what surprised Smith the most about Germantown when doing her research.

Smith was also the curator for “The Other Germantown,” 12 years ago, which was both an exhibition and blog using photography to connect folks making decisions about the neighborhood to those who live in the neighborhood, who may not always be able to stay attuned or take action about those decisions.

So, asking this question to someone who’s documenting on Germantown extended beyond the festival felt right.

“I think that Germantown underestimates how much influence it can have in the national conversation about democracy,” she answers, pointing back to historical points within the book about liberation.

“Germantown needs to be leading that conversation, not waiting for permission to sit at these tables,” she ends.

“Compositions of Black Joy” makes its debut on February 8 at 2 p.m. during its launch party at the Germantown Historical Society at 5501 Germantown Avenue, where goers can also make their own order.

Smith reveals that while folks will always be able to order the book via paperback after the first 125 hardbacks are gone, it’s final.

“I want people who really appreciate collector’s items, coffee table books to be getting that sort of VIP treatment,” Smith says, alerting the public of the book’s value.

To learn more about the book and Smith, visit compositionsofblackjoy.com.