*Black graduate school students have found a way to celebrate the extra letters freshly attached to their name.
In a move launched by Indiana University alumnus Anthony Wright and Columbia University alumnus Brian Allen, both of whom recently completed their master’s programs, grad students are using the hashtag #BlackAndHooded to celebrate their academic achievement on social media – and it is beautiful.
In an interview with HuffPost, Wright said he got the hashtag idea from a conversation he had with one of the black undergraduate students he advised at school. She told him that the black graduate students set a good example for the undergraduates.
“That made me think about how in my time in undergrad, I didn’t have that type of representation or example and how it almost deterred me from applying at all,” he said. “Seeing people like you in any educational or professional space is important in planting the seed of believing you can be there, and by using the hashtag across social media platforms, I sought to create a large pool of that representation across regions, institution types and areas of interest.”
Wright and Allen also created the hashtag to flip the negative stereotypes associated with black people in hoodies, “to redefine what ‘hood’ people could immediately associate with black people” ― though nothing is wrong with hoodies, Wright clarified.
Wright first announced out the hashtag on Twitter in late April:
Representation!
Graduating black masters/doctoral students please use #BlackandHooded to share and archive your accomplishments #Classof2017 pic.twitter.com/1ETzPUO7aR— Ant (@AyyoAnt) April 26, 2017
And then it was on:
A post shared by Ajani B.H. Photography (@ajanibhphotography) on
A post shared by Ashley Dorsett (@adorsett24) on
Run me that Masters Degree!!! #BlackandHooded M.S.Ed pic.twitter.com/L7hwM0A8rz
— Ant (@AyyoAnt) May 5, 2017
I passed my defense today, let’s go ahead and add M.A. to the end of my name. ??#BlackWomenInGradSchool #EverydayBlackness #BlackGirlMagic pic.twitter.com/MPC9MNamsp
— #BOLDblackgirl (@____MissB) April 4, 2017
Just a girl who went from the one of the lowest performing high schools in DETROIT, to one of the top graduate programs in the COUNTRY! ✊?? pic.twitter.com/pkcaoHjnwv
— CJ (@Celeste_Jean) April 29, 2017
A post shared by Dr. C. Nicole (@drcnicole) on
From #ChiTown native, #FosterCareAlumni 2 #BlackandHooded #BlackboyJoy #PhiKappaPhi #McNairScholars #TRiOWorks #Blackexcellence #UWMadison pic.twitter.com/HtwfmPs3Dy
— Mauriell H. Amechi (@MrAmechiSpeaks) May 15, 2017