Dictionary

black square en · NOUN

Etymology

From black + square.

Meanings

1. A predominantly black image, posted by users of social media, as a demonstration of support for awareness and protest campaigns, particularly those related to racism and police brutality.
   • Instagram is filling up with black squares in the latest movement to protest against racial inequality and police brutality. 2020 June 2, Andrew Griffin, “Blackout Tuesday: What do Instagram black squares mean – and how can you take part?”, in The Independent (article), archived from the original on 12 Feb 2025:
   • In June 2020, millions of Instagram users shared black squares along with hashtags including #BlackOutTuesday and #BlackLivesMatter before pausing their social media content for the day. 2022 February 24, Mariah L. Wellman, “Black Squares for Black Lives? Performative Allyship as Credibility Maintenance for Social Media Influencers on Instagram”, in Zizi Papacharissi, Viki Conner (asst.), editors, Social Media + Society, volume 8, number 1 (journal article), SAGE Publications Ltd., →DOI, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 Jul 2022:
   • In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, 28 million people posted black squares on their Instagram feeds for Blackout Tuesday, an online form of protest against the systemic racism faced by Black Americans in the U.S. 2024 October 3, Bailey Calfee, “NAACP campaign speaks to ‘black square’ posters to reinvigorate anti-racism movement”, in Campaign US (article), Haymarket Media Group Ltd., archived from the original on 08 Oct 2024:
   • Instagram users are flooding the platform with black squares in support of black victims of police violence as part of a Blackout Tuesday protest. 2020 June 2, Jessica Bursztynsky, Sarah Whitten, “Instagram users flood the app with millions of Blackout Tuesday posts”, in CNBC (article), archived from the original on 02 Jun 2020:
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black, square, for example, ■.

Forms