Black Twitter: A People’s History premiered this week on Hulu. This is a documentary that is describing the inception of Black twitter as well as some of the cultural moments that Black twitter has been part of. It is important to note that sometimes it’s not about a cultural moment but about inside jokes that are meant to be understood but not explained to the Black community both here and abroad.
Dr. Meredith Clark, an associate professor in the School of Journalism & the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern University, describes Black Twitter as: “a network of culturally connected communicators using the platform to draw attention to issues of concern to black communities. It’s the culture that we grew up with. It’s the culture that we experienced in our lives and school, in the workplace, with entertainment – and you see conversations coalesce around specific cultural moments.
I always explain to people that Black Twitter doesn’t have a gateway, a secret knock. It’s not a separate platform. It’s all in the way that people use the platform to draw attention to issues of concern to black communities.”
Black Twitter isn't a separate place, but rather it's a subculture of Twitter where the Black community has a conversation. It's the marketplace of ideas for Black culture on Twitter. This document seeks to anthologize a period and pieces of information that knowingly and unknowingly birthed some profound cultural moments. Black Twitter was also instrumental in the Black Lives Matter Movement and various other elements of activism.
Prentice Penny (Girlfriends, Insecure, Brooklyn-Nine Nine) produced this documentary and speaking with Vanity Fair he said: "I’ve always said the doc is a love letter from me to my culture—and to Black Twitter, honoring everything that it’s done, which is infinite. There are very few pockets in the world where Black people drive conversation, outside of a place you might expect us to be. If we’re in a Black barbershop, of course we’re driving the conversation there. If we’re at an HBCU, we’re driving the conversation there. But in the C-suites, are we dominating the conversation? Black Twitter was forcing those in the C-suites who are multimillionaires and billionaires to listen to someone who they’ll never see."
Watch the trailer below and be sure to watch the full documentary.