
Tuesday, March 4th | 5:00pm-6:00pm
Anne Queen Lounge in the Campus Y (180 E Cameron Ave)
Join the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life for an engaging conversation between CITAP Principal Investigator Meredith D. Clark and Sherri M. Williams, professor of journalism and media studies at American University, as they discuss their groundbreaking books on the power of Black Twitter in shaping media, activism, and digital culture.
In We Tried to Tell Y’All: Black Twitter and the Rise of Digital Counternarratives, Meredith D. Clark explores how Black social media users have carved out a vital space for resistance, storytelling, and cultural commentary—challenging mainstream narratives and confronting centuries of erasure.
Sherri M. Williams’ Black Social Television: How Black Twitter Changed Television dives into the impact of Black social media users on the television industry. From sparking representation revolutions to influencing what makes it on (or off) the air, Williams highlights how Black digital audiences have leveraged Twitter to challenge Hollywood’s traditional gatekeepers and create new pathways for content creators.
In conversation with each other and the audience, Clark and Williams will explore the legacy of Black digital activism, the evolving role of social media in cultural discourse, and what the future holds for Black digital communities in an era of shifting online platforms.
Meredith Clark is a distinguished scholar whose research critically examines the intersections of race, media, and power, with a particular focus on Black digital culture. She earned her Ph.D. from UNC Hussman in 2014 and is the author of the book We Tried to Tell Y’all: Black Twitter & Black Digital Resistance. Her work has been published in prominent journals such as Social Media & Society,New Media & Society, and the International Journal of Press and Politics. She has also received research grants from organizations including the Knight Foundation, the Democracy Fund, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Sherri Williams is a race and representation researcher exploring how media images reinforce oppression and inequality. A former journalist, she teaches journalism and media studies courses examining race, gender, class, and identity in mass media. Her research focuses on the intersection of social media, social justice, and television, particularly how Black audiences use digital activism to influence media representation. In her book, Black Social Television: How Black Twitter Changed Television, Williams examines how Black digital communities have shaped the entertainment industry. She also studies the representation of marginalized groups, especially Black women, and develops courses that connect historical systems of oppression to contemporary media stereotypes.