Black Lives Matter (2013-present) is a modern social movement that protests racial inequity in the United States. After the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of an African American teenager, Trayvon Martin, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter became a rallying cry against racially motivated violence, particularly those perpetrated by police, in the United States. This movement has grown immensely in the past decade to encompass other issues of race in the United States and across the Globe. As this is recent history, The Black Lives Matter Oral History Project (BLMOHP) aims to assist in collecting personal narratives on this crucial and far-reaching movement throughout the United States. Its mission is to preserve these narratives to help the public, students, educators, and scholars understand better the complex and decentralized nature of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

The Black Lives Matter Oral History Project (BLMOHP) could not have been created without the support of several institutional partners at Sewanee: The University of the South, including the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Office of Inclusive Excellence, the Library and Information Technology Services and the William R. Laurie Archives and Special Collections.