| On July 15, Twitter celebrated the 15th anniversary of its launch. Yay? It's a crucial part of the modern internet—but not exactly beloved, these days. So how to celebrate? One of our senior writers, Jason Parham, had an idea: a history of Black Twitter. But not just any history. For years, people have talked and written about Black Twitter, the loose network of Black users who, from the very beginning, have defined the platform's potential to unite communities, make art, and affect change. What Jason was suggesting was an oral history, told almost entirely in the voices of the participants, the people who were there, who made it happen. It had never been done before. Off he went. Lots of interviews, transcriptions, and conversations later, three eras of Black Twitter emerged, so we decided to split the oral history into three parts. The first was published this week (with parts two and three rolling out over the next two Thursdays). Called "Coming Together," it chronicles the early days, as Black users—often in or just out of college—found their way to a new social platform and began to figure out what it could do. Jason guides us through the history, framing it around key events such as the death of Michael Jackson, the premiere of Scandal, and the death of Trayvon Martin, but he lets his subjects speak for themselves. The result is a chorus of voices, all talking about a phenomenon that can't quite be explained—but experienced. The Editors | WIRED |
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