The History
The HistoryThe Spark to A Hashtag Movement
The beginning of #blacklivesmatter came about during a time of fear and disapproval of the government system making excuses for the deaths of African Americans. The hashtag was created in response to concern towards civil rights. On July 13th, 2013, the verdict of the killer of a young, teenage African American boy named Trayvon Martin was delivered to the public as being innocent. George Zimmerman took his official first step of freedom out of the courtroom. Alicia Garza had been sitting in a bar in Oakland, California, when she learned of the verdict. She watched as people left the bar one by one in response to the controversial news. The morning after she cried herself to sleep, Garza went onto Facebook and posted her love note to the Black community, ending with "Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives Matter." A close friend, Patrisse Cullors, shared Garza's post with the caption of #blacklivesmatter with the world. This one instance created a spark towards a virtual civil rights movement."Your Stories= Our Stories"
The next day Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza met up to brainstorm a campaign about the fight for Black people to be heard. They then reached out to Opal Tometi, an activist primarily for immigrant rights, to have her on board for their campaign. The three women started the campaign by creating Tumblr and Twitter accounts to share stories and other users' stories of why #blacklivesmatter. Cullors lead a march on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills shortly after to let people speak out towards the Trayvon Martin case in the form of civil protest. This protest was the first protest that featured #blacklivesmatter, which spread the hashtag culturally.On August 9, 2014, an 18-year-old Black teen, named Michael Brown, was killed by a White police officer in Ferguson, Michigan, with twelve rounds of bullets to the body. Michael Brown had been unarmed. Many people of the world erupted in disgust and anger towards the police brutality that happened. Others took to social media to display their feelings and ending each post with #blacklivesmatter.
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- The Emergence of #blacklivesmatter Gabrielle Johnson
