International Journal of Linguistics & Communication

#BlackOnCampus: Exploring the Marginalization of Black Identity through Twitter Messages
Monique Riddick-Conelius, Adrian Krishnasamy

Abstract
The use of social media has become a main source of communication within the last decade. The ability to reach large audiences, has permitted many current social movements that normally would‟ve gone unnoticed, to become some of the most popular social justice movements of our current times. The #BlackOnCampus movement, established in 2015, was a popular social movement that was started by Black students attending the University of Missouri that wanted to take a stand against racial injustices that had been occurring on their campus for many years. The establishment of this movement encouraged Black students attending other Predominantly White Institutions across the U.S. to also share experience they have had on their respective campuses. Through qualitative research, a textual analysis was used to reveal two themes: the challenging of black excellence and the misrepresentation of diversity. As told by the students through Twitter, these conversations were raw, unapologetic, and told an uncensored story of the harsh realities of being a Black student on a White college campus.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/ijlc.v8n2a3