YouTube Unveils Slate Dedicated to Amplifying Black Voices

YouTube has announced a new original content slate that is focused on racial justice, amplifying Black voices and elevating Black culture.

The announced titles continue YouTube’s commitment to celebrating a broad and diverse set of perspectives on its platform. This includes new projects that have come directly out of the recently announced $100 million #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund, including a documentary series from Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, as well as a HBCU Homecoming (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) live stream special.

The new and returning YouTube Originals from the fund include Resist, a 12-episode docuseries that follows the grassroots work of multicultural/intersectional organizations fighting the Los Angeles county’s $3.5 billion jail expansion plan in 2018. There’s also the HBCU Homecoming 2020: Meet Me On The Yard live stream; the Bear Witness, Take Action Part Two (working title) live stream; Onyx Family Dinner; and Barbershop Medicine (working title).

The upcoming and returning YouTube Originals titles that were developed prior to the launch of YouTube’s Black Content Fund but that also center on the global Black experience and address racial justice include Together We Rise, Trapped: Cash Bail in America, BookTube, The Outsiders, season two of Glad You Asked and Lockdown.

Susanne Daniels, global head of original content for YouTube Originals, said: “YouTube is committed to spotlighting community-driven storytelling and the important issues that people of color and other marginalized communities face every day. Now more than ever, it’s essential that we develop, support, and elevate content that is created by and for the Black community.”

Malik Ducard, YouTube’s VP of content partnerships, said: “Race has never been an easy issue to confront but the events over the last few months have opened up doors of dialogue and action that had once seemed closed. Across YouTube, we have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to contribute to these conversations about racial justice in a meaningful way. Through our $100 million content fund and other initiatives, we are continuing the important work of amplifying Black voices, making YouTube a better place for Black creators, educating people on the diversity of the Black experience, and centering Black people as the messengers of their own stories.”