Social media and the Internet have taken the celebration of Black history to a new level.
After the Black Lives Matter movement, members of the black community have expressed discontent with how people handle race-related conversation and feel that issues are properly recognized or taken seriously. But different media outlets have redeemed itself with the care in how they are recognizing the monthlong holiday this year.
For starters, Snapchat created a Black History Month geotag to usher in the month, and trending on Twitter is the #blackhistorymonth hashtag that users, celebrities and non-celerities alike, use to recognize African-Americans who have been influential in the last year as well as share facts of the past.
Aside from the usual articles published by major news outlets, such as the Huffington Post and the New York Times publishing articles and schedules of events recognizing the month’s importance, the music streaming service Spotify is featuring a playlist recognizing a different African-American artist each day of the month.
Google took a step further than its usual Google doodle and added more than 5,000 works of black history including art, historical documents and photos to its online Cultural Institute. The items have been curated from 80 exhibits and over 50 museums across the nation. The website also provides a virtual tour experience of significant locations in black history.
Huffpost Black Voices is using the month to allude to the future by celebrating Black Future Month in by recognizing figures aiming to create a better tomorrow.
Social media and the Internet are a powerful tools and in this case are being used for good. Site administrators are using the Web to educate and promote something that is important to many people – not necessarily just African Americans – as well as advocate for a better future.
So, if you are one of those who thinks Black History Month is underrated or that the issue of black history education is too scarce, take to the Internet and you will see otherwise.
