Entry · catalog no. 8501
Black Lives Matter
/ /blæk laɪvz ˈmætɚ/ /BLAK LYVZ MAT-er
phrase · Oakland and Los Angeles, California; national · 2010s
✓ Verified
1.
The affirmation, begun as a hashtag in July 2013, that Black lives have worth and deserve protection from state and everyday violence.
“She chalked Black lives matter on the sidewalk outside the courthouse.”
2.
The name of the decentralized movement and organizing network that grew from that hashtag, led by Black organizers against police killings and structural racism.
“The Black Lives Matter chapter held a vigil on Saturday.”
Origin & Attribution
The phrase began on July 13, 2013, the night George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Alicia Garza, an Oakland organizer, posted a love note to Black people on Facebook that ended by insisting that Black lives matter. Her friend Patrisse Cullors answered with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, and Opal Tometi built the online platforms that carried it. The three are credited as its founders. It is often placed in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014, but Ferguson is where it spread into street protest, not where it began. The counter-slogan "All lives matter" is a response to it, not an equivalent of it.
2013
Garza's Facebook post and Cullors's hashtag, after the Zimmerman verdict
2014
Spreads into nationwide street protest after Ferguson
2014
Garza publishes 'A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement'
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Oakland and Los Angeles, California; national · 2010s
Spoken by
Black organizers, protesters, and communities nationwide
$BLACKLThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady13 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
90/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2013
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Alicia Garza, 'A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement,' The Feminist Wire, Oct. 7, 2014
article
■
History.com, 'Blacklivesmatter hashtag first appears on Facebook,' July 13, 2013 entry
article
■
+ Cite a sourceColorlines, 'Out of Despair, Hope: The 3rd Anniversary of #BlackLivesMatter,' 2016
article
See also