Abstract

May 27, 2020 saw the fatal shooting of Tony McDade, a Black transgender man. McDade is one of many lives underlying the Black Lives Matter movement which, in 2020, became the largest movement in United States’ history. Although the Black Lives Matter movement has successfully brought the reality of systemic racism in the United States to the forefront of media, there remains a lack of visibility for and conversation surrounding the most vulnerable members: the Black transgender community. Through an intersectional lens, this thesis broadly examines the sentiment surrounding tweets utilizing the #blacktranslivesmatter hashtag, and how the intersection of race and gender impact marginalized community members’ experiences in the United States. Using mixed-method content analysis and a social network analytical approach, I provide a detailed exploration of the current attitudes surrounding the movement and #blacktranslivesmatter media content circulating on one of today's most influential social media platforms: Twitter. I address the following questions: What textual or media content is included in tweets utilizing the hashtag #blacktranslivesmatter? Who is tweeting or retweeting content with #blacktranslivesmatter? What do these tweets reveal about the sentiment surrounding the #blacktranslivesmatter movement?

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Twitter--Research; African American transgender people--Social conditions; African American transgender people--Violence against; African American transgender people--Political activity; Black Lives Matter movement; Social networks--Political aspects; Social sciences--Network analysis; Hashtags (Metadata); Intersectionality (Sociology)

Publication Date

5-15-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Communication and Media Technologies (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

School of Communication (CLA)

Advisor

Nickesia Gordon

Advisor/Committee Member

Katrina Overby

Advisor/Committee Member

Ammina Kothari

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

COMMTCH-MS

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