#blackgirlmagic vs. #blacklivesmatter: Sentiment Analysis

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Numerous American users tweeted about Black History Month in February to show their recognition, support and respect to the important history, culture and events of the native Africans or African’s people.

The most often seen hashtags this year were #blacklivesmatter, #blackgirlmagic, #blackhistorymonth, #blackhistory, #blackexcellence, and #blackwomen.

Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month, is an annual observance originating in the U.S. It has received official recognition from governments in the States and Canada.

The celebration of Black History Month began as “Negro History Week,” which was created by a famous American historian Carter G. Woodson. The month-long celebration officially started in 1976, with the primary purpose to honor the contributions of African Americans to U.S. history.

According to the first bar graph, #blacklivesmatter reached its highest percentage of sentiment terms at 0.067% while #blackgrilmagic reached its lowest percentage at 0.046%.

Users tended to reveal their emotions most when they paired #blacklivesmatter in their tweets. Words like “love”, “hate” and “sad” often can be seen.

However, compared with other hashtags, users rarely revealed their emotions when they paired #blackgirlmagic in their tweets. Instead, they shared stories, anecdotes and experiences about their known or unknown black females.

blackgirlmagic is the hashtag that was created in the hopes of counteracting negativity society places on black women, celebrating their inner beauty, general amazingness and achievements.

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According to the second bar graph, #blacklivesmatter continued to reach its highest percentage of sentiment terms, with the negativity at 0.031%. Under the hashtag, topics related to slavery, racism, injustice and other social issues ignite vigorous dialogue in the community, encouraging people to take action.

Meanwhile, #blackgirlmagic still reached its lowest point, with the percentage of negative sentiment terms at 0.007%. The hashtag is normally used as a friendly way to spread the positive essence, style and spirit of black women.

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From the third bar paragraph, all the hashtags have the relatively similar percentages of positive sentiment terms between 0.035% and 0.038%, in addition to #balckhistorymonth.

As the first hashtag to kick off Black History Month on Twitter, #balckhistorymonth reached its highest percentage of positiveness at 0.044%. The overall tone of people’s tweets about the significance and legacy of Black culture in America remained positive.

Under the hashtag, users often posted interesting quotes, facts about Black History Month as well as routine-based stories to show their ways of recognition.

For example, Tim Fargo, the CEO of Social Jukebox, posted a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. He tweeted, “it is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.”

Twitter @HirlanPaschal acknowledged his thoughts and feelings to Black History Month. He tweeted, “this is where the love, support, loyalty, care, and good times all reside…”

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Based on the last bar graph, all hashtags achieve a positive sentiment score, with #blackgrilmagic reached its highest at 0.685 and #blacklivesmatte reached its lowest at 0.076.

With some negativity of expression, more controversial opinions were expressed when paired with #blacklivesmatter.

CJ Pearson, an American political activist and commentator, tweeted about the U.S. political dilemma and its impact to African Americans. He thinks Democrats “enslaved and desegregated black people”.