ATLANTA -- For years, Carlton Mackey has traveled the country asking Black men one thing: “What makes you smile?”

Mackey says the question often catches men off-guard, but after a quick pause they begin riffing.

Some named their loved ones or career accomplishments. Others gushed about community empowerment and service. No matter the response, Mackey, an Atlanta-based artist and educator, says he leaves every encounter smiling.

These brief chats began on social media with the hashtag #blackmensmile, then continued in person. But the moment that inspired the conversations — the 2014 death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Black man killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri — was far from joyful.

“I was angry and mad about … the status of Black men, in terms of how we were portrayed, and the violence that was so easily and constantly being enacted upon our bodies,” Mackey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He grew tired of seeing depictions of Black pain and sorrow. So he started initiating conversations about Black happiness.

After countless talks, he put the Black pride he was hearing about on full display by creating Black Men Smile, a collection of apparel dedicated to amplifying the power of Black joy.

For the last decade he’s been printing T-shirts, hoodies and sweatsuits with a variety of celebratory phrases, and a signature crown symbol, an ode to the famous visual artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

“Black joy is revolutionary.”

“Black love is Black power.”

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