After much debate on social media, Hulu has unveiled the official trailer for their three-part documentary on the Black Twitter community.
The trailer, released on Thursday, April 24, teases what viewers can expect from “A People’s History of Black Twitter” coming to Hulu on May 9. Directed by “Insecure” showrunner Prentice Penny and based on Jason Parham’s Wired article of the same name, the docuseries unwraps the history, impact, and future of Black users on the platform, now known as X.
The trailer kicks off with a few commentators reading tweets posted under the #UKnowUrBlackWhen hashtag before sharing what sites were used as digital communal spaces before Black Twitter became a thing.
“Black Twitter created a space to experience things together,” one person says while clips show a list of Black Twitter communities including #HotepTwitter, #BlackMusicTwitter, #HBCUTwitter, and many more.
The doc features commentary from Black Twitter users like journalists Jemele Hill, Wesley Lowery and April Reign, authors Roxane Gay and Luvvie Ajayi, trans activist Raquel Willis, comedian W. Kamau Bell, The Read
podcast co-host Kid Fury, and many more. It serves as Penny’s nonfiction directorial debut.“When I was looking for my next project, Black Twitter: A People’s History excited me because I knew it would be a challenge and make me feel scared again creatively,” Penny tells
Essence. “ If we don’t document our history, who will?”
“Making this docuseries with Onyx Collective showed me that the power was never in the platform; it was always in us,” he added. “As expected, Black Twitter has many thoughts, and I can’t wait to see who all gon’ be there on May 9!”
The doc first premiered at SXSW in March and Penny shared how it will highlight the new-age activism it provided users from the power of their smartphone.
“That’s what I really love about what Black Twitter represents,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Black Twitter allows Black people all across the world to galvanize in a way that you can’t afford to do in so many other ways, but you can do on this platform because money isn’t a deterrent to access.”
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