A Deep Dive Into Black Twitter’s Public Square and the Voices Shaping Culture

Pulling up a seat to the proverbial table that is Black Twitter, Hypebeast takes a deep dive into Hulu’s latest series, Black Twitter: A People’s History. Onyx Collective’s three-part docuseries surveys viral memes and hashtags that set the internet ablaze and breached mainstream culture.

Director and executive producer Prentice Penny drew inspiration from Jason Parham’s 2021 WIRED article “A People’s History of Black Twitter.” The series spotlights Black Twitter’s diverse community of content creators and the voices that galvanized online discourse into real-life movements. An invitation to the cookout, per se, Black Twitter: A People’s History leans into the social nuances of the Black experience, with plenty of receipts co-signed by the show’s commenters. Kid Fury, Amanda Seales, Brandon ”Jinx” Jenkins, Jemele Hill and more weigh in on the internet’s archive of viral memes and the popularity of hashtags like #DemThrones, #UKnowUrBlackWhen, #OscarSoWhite and #BlackGirlMagic. These online conversations unpacked the importance of inclusion and representation, forcing pop culture to reckon with its past, present and future.

For many, the series is a walk down memory lane and a look back at the online shenanigans and digital threads that shaped culture from 2020 onward. Those on the outskirts of the online community wondered if Black Twitter was a separate social media platform or an elusive community floating in the ether. Meanwhile, Black Twitter mirrored the contemporary state of discourse online and IRL and the political polarization creeping into Twitter’s (X) underbelly.

Black Twitter is the pulse of culture as told by memes, hashtags and GIFs. It’s also the town square that birthed #BlackLivesMatter after the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, followed by the Ferguson protests, the early beginnings of Donald J. Trump’s presidency and the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot. A social engine pushing culture forward, Black Twitter’s online community is a space of unabashed expression and the heartbeat behind contemporary discourse — you're welcome to hold court, of course, or you can take a seat and listen.

Learn more about the series in the video above. Join the conversation by tuning into Black Twitter: A People’s History, now available to stream on Hulu.