Projecting Culture Through Hashtag Activism: The #IAmABlackMan Challenge on Instagram

The purpose of this study was to analyze Instagram photos posted by Black men with the #IAmABlackMan challenge as part of the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement to (a) understand the overall sentiments surrounding the hashtag challenge, (b) assess the nature of cultural projection as visually communicated through Instagram, and (c) examine how others interpret the cultural projection of these Black men through the images. This study uses a mixed-methods approach comprised of a social media insights sentiment analysis, qualitative and quantitative semiotic visual analyses, a qualitative and quantitative survey, and thematic analysis to analyze the images, comments, and perceptions of posts using the #IAmaBlackMan hashtag on Instagram.