Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Khan-Cullors co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, creating the hashtag and organizational framework that would become the largest social movement in American history. What began as a Facebook post in response to George Zimmerman's acquittal for the killing of Trayvon Martin grew into a global network of chapters, a rallying cry for racial justice, and a fundamental shift in how Americans talk about police violence and systemic racism.

Born in Los Angeles in 1983, Cullors grew up in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley. She experienced police harassment firsthand as a teenager and saw her brother brutalized by officers — experiences that radicalized her and informed her activism. She studied religion and philosophy at UCLA and became a community organizer before co-creating Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

The movement Cullors helped build reached its peak in the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, when an estimated 15 to 26 million people participated in Black Lives Matter protests across the United States — making it the largest protest movement in American history. Cullors is also an artist, educator, and author of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. Her work demonstrated that a hashtag, powered by genuine grievance and strategic organizing, could change the world.