Throughout history and even today, the majority of the stories we hear about black people are told through the lens of white storytellers, the white gaze. The result is often that of misunderstanding and misrepresentation; of black communities and culture being depicted as one-dimensional tropes. Realistically, there is so much beautiful complexity and nuance to the daily life of our community. This is the type of work that needs to be done in order to celebrate and accurately represent the strength, pride, love, joy and struggle of the Black Community. To acknowledge that no matter how far our culture has come, we’ve still got a long road ahead.

The goal of this campaign is to drive awareness throughout Black History Month by lifting Black voices and accurately representing the Black community. In doing so, we hoped to show how Black History is being made every day and how Facebook is a place that helps lift and amplify every voice. To achieve this, we looked to the past and took inspiration from the Black National Anthem: “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. The center-piece of our integrated, social-first campaign was an original performance of the Black National Anthem featuring the voices of all-female singing group June’s Diary accompanied by real members of Facebook Groups, chosen from within the Black community.

Insight - Black history is being made every day

Strategy - Celebrate and honestly reflect the experience of modern life through the lens of the Black Community and Facebook Groups.

This work is relevant for social media because our entire campaign was social first. Starting from the films we created that were imagined to live on Social Media platforms, to the shareable cards and community engagement it fostered, everything was done with social in mind. Furthermore, all of the talent featured within the film were Facebook Group members that we connected with through social. The community rallied behind the work and shared this modern rendition of an old classic starring people that felt real because they were real.

As a celebration of Black History Month, we set out to find Facebook Groups and members that represented the future voices of the Black community. Singing quintet Group June's Diary led a performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing", the Black National Anthem and were accompanied by real Facebook Group members. Set in a high-school to highlight the importance of education as a means to elevate Black Voices, we created a film - directed by Jason M. Harper - that went through African American history, from struggles to celebrations, through Facebook Groups doing extraordinary work within their community.

We created a lyric poster to share with those who were not familiar with the anthem. Furthermore, shareable cards and stickers were created by artists Jade Purple Brown and Ade Hogue to uplift the community. We created illustrated Hero Portraits to showcase individuals that are making their impacts felt within their community.

505,816k Likes & Reactions

21,787k Comments

96,874k Shares

148M Total Media Impressions

The film was broadcast on platform and premiered during half-time of the 2020 NBA All Star Game.