"People Resist the Change, but it Doesn't Mean That You Stop": Exploring the Social Media and Civic Lives of Adolescent Black Girls During the Black Lives Matter and Me Too Movements Using IPA

Author

Nadine Verna, Montclair State University

Date of Award

8-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School

College of Education and Human Services

Department/Program

Family Science and Human Development

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Jennifer Brown Urban

Committee Member

Shaniqua Bradley

Committee Member

Ashley Ermer

Committee Member

Jason Williams

Abstract

Black women and girls have played a pivotal role in the promotion of social justice despite their marginalized position in American society. Using social media, Black women and girls founded and popularized the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Me Too (MT) social movements, which seek to combat racial and sexual violence. This investigation is concerned with how BLM and MT involvement has affected the critical consciousness development of adolescent Black girls. The qualitative study adopted an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to explore the lived experiences of school-going adolescent Black girls who were active on social media and civically engaged during the BLM and MT movements between 2019 and 2021. The findings of the study reveal that adolescent Black girls aligned more with BLM that MT due to early identification with victims based on race and age. However, over time the girls also found BLM involvement to be limiting due to its failure to recognize and support victims with intersectional identities besides race and gender. Due to BLM’s and MT’s constraints, the Black girls in the study relied on self-selected social media and peer groups for information, support, and community. Social media informed offline engagement and facilitated activism. The study suggests that participants’ intersectional identities informed their perceptions and experiences of the BLM and MT movements and motivated them to pursue and create both online and offline opportunities for critical reflection and social action. This research builds upon and will contribute to the body of Black girlhood studies scholarship.

File Format

PDF

Recommended Citation

Verna, Nadine, ""People Resist the Change, but it Doesn't Mean That You Stop": Exploring the Social Media and Civic Lives of Adolescent Black Girls During the Black Lives Matter and Me Too Movements Using IPA" (2025). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1601.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1601