It is possible that the culture of gathering goes all the way back to New Orleans with Congo Square, where slave owners would    let their slaves congregate with other slaves and the few freemen on Sundays to share their culture from their different tribes, sell wares and make music. Many people relate this interaction as the leading cause of jazz music and derivatively multiple forms of music including rock and roll. (National Park Service) While not an activist movement it is easily stated that this left a huge impact on American culture and needed to be noted. In 1790 the Underground Railroad (not officially called that until 1830) was created to help slaves escape the horrors of slavery, aided by northern sympathizers the Underground Railroad was able to free about 100,000 slaves. (Riggs) The Underground Railroad only had 3,000 people at the most during its operation from 1790 to the end of the Civil War in 1865 to keep the organization secret. (Riggs) The rumors of the Underground Railroad during that time brought the plight of slaves to the forefront and gained more supporters for the abolishment of slavery. This while not the only factor in the abolishment of slavery in 1865 was definitively a contributing factor.

Another notable gathering of Black people is in the neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa Oklahoma. Referred to as the “Black Wall Street” due to the segregation Greenwood was one of the few places black people could spend their money making it one of the richest predominantly black communities. (Henderson, G., & Johnson) Home to over 1,115 black own businesses and homes Greenwood met an unfortunate end in 1921, in a riot when racial tension reached a climax on account of a misunderstanding that was exacerbated by libel printing of the facts in the Tusla Tribune the local newspaper. (Henderson, G., & Johnson) This is worth noting because of success that was achieved in uniting was clear, whether it was cut short or not.

In the 1900s the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded this is a noteworthy success because it still exists today. In 1957 Mrs. Bates who was serving as the state conference president of NAACP helped 9 black st
udents integrate into Central High School after the ruling of Brown versus Board of Education. Black community’s ability to unite and create an organization that went on to help time and time again is a statement of progression through uniting. These are just a few examples the list goes on and on.
All of this information is brought up to compare it to the current black activism movement of today Black Lives Matter.  Black Lives Matter aims to fight the idea that we live in a perfect society that is colorblind to all issues and society as a whole has evolved pass past atrocities, it wants to show that even though we have a black president race relationships have not completely been mended and that more unacceptable injustices happen day after day.  Around 2008 when the Occupy Wall street movement was gaining attention, it brought to light that 1 percent of Americans owned 40 percent of the national wealth and 99 percent owned considerably less than the one percent. (Wellington) Black Lives saw that out of the 99 percent Black Americans made up a majority and believed that while Occupy Wall Street was just cause there was a generalization that every race was being put on equal ground when structurally Black people as a whole have been held at a disadvantage and kept there. (Wellington) Black Lives Matter gained power from the unfortunate deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Gamer, Mike Brown. These deaths were proof that Black lives are systematically targeted for elimination. Black Lives became a full organization in 2013 in the after math of the George Zimmerman acquittal for the Trayvon Martin trial.

Webster defines a Millennial as a person born in the 1980s or 1990s. Millennial are known for their addictions to technology, social media and lack of work ethic. Yet, Black Lives attributes a lot of its success to the support of millennial activist Via Facebook. Sourcing social media as “a primary 21s Century tool.” (Wellington) Being only physically founded in 2013 with the help of millennial activist it has already made such an impact that in 2014 that they gained an audience with President Obama. (Wellington) Exponential is not enough to explain the growth that Black Lives Matter has received. Black Lives does not rely only on social media; it has held marches such as the Freedom ride where 500 Black Americans gathered in Ferguson, Missouri following the death of Michael Brown. (ColorLines) On December 20^th of 2015 Black Lives were able to gather more than 2,000 people in the Mall of America to protest which did result in some fines. The organization understands the need for physically gathering to protest, and while social media does help to get the word out they will use all methods to make the word is spread and shared.

While obviously a movement only capable of existing in the 21st century ,Black Lives Matter has not forgotten its past and has grown on those ideas to create a unique tool to fight today’s injustices. Black Lives Matter has defined a space for black activism by not defining a space creating a world where any space can be one for black activism. Any computer with internet access is a uniting platform to combat wrongs that happen and give a voice to anyone who needs one.