Black Lives Matter

[ blak lahyvz mat-er ]

noun

1. a political and social movement originating among African Americans, emphasizing basic human rights and racial equality for Black people and campaigning against various forms of racism. : BLM, B.L.M.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Black Lives Matter¹

First recorded in 2013; the slogan that arose from the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager

Example Sentences

In 2020 a police guide suggested that Black Lives Matter activists should be treated as terrorists.

From Slate

But it picked up steam in 2021, when the Black Lives Matter movement made schools reckon with the discomfiting fact that they were far less likely to identify Black and Latino as gifted than they were white and Asian students.

From Los Angeles Times

The show was in development over the last five years, against the backdrop of events like the Black Lives Matter protests.

From Los Angeles Times

Many arose after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the resulting rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as other efforts to advance social justice and acknowledge darker parts of American history.

From BBC

Stroll down memory lane with me: The promise of the first woman president crashed into the shock of reactionary Trumpism, which itself was met with defiant resistance—Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the Women’s March—each of which was in turn the subject of furious backlash.

From Slate