Black Millennials is a digital hub committed to cultural empowerment for Black folk, especially us 20somethings who are creating our own histories as we live them. As a space inclusive of ALL Black lives, we encourage Black people — of any age or national background — to contribute their written truths.
We strongly suggest that you read through BM’s Values and previous work to get a solid sense of the type of writing we welcome.
Things to Know
- All pieces must relate — in some way — to the 21st century Black experience
- Be mindful; most views are welcome so long as they’re expressed responsibly
- We do accept written work from non-Black People of Color, however all pieces must be intentionally rooted in a pro-Black analysis
- This is an independent blog. This means you can take certain liberties not afforded to traditional media outlets. You can (and should) write in first-person, reference personal experiences, tell anecdotes, and state opinions.
- Hyperlinks are your best friend. Please include them when referencing facts, data, statistics, quotes, and scholarly concepts
- There’s no word limit, but the most widely shared pieces typically range between 500 – 750 words
We do NOT accept academic essays, poetry, short stories, or works of fiction.
We DEFINITELY do NOT accept work that’s racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and/or is in any way harmful to Black folk and other groups who are oppressed based on race.
The Editorial Process
- It begins with a pitch … an extremely short summation of what you want to write about. Please pitch via the contact box below. Pitches made by email will not be considered.
- After submitting your pitch, Arielle will respond to tell you if your pitch is accepted. Arielle will also respond if she’s interested in learning more about your proposed article before a formal acceptance is issued.
- If accepted, you will be invited to submit a rough draft of your work directly by email. Please submit in Word doc format, or in the body of the email. If rejected, you will be told exactly why your pitch was denied, and will be invited to submit another pitch.
- Then comes editing. Depending on content, editing time varies but is typically done within a week — sooner if your piece responds to a current event. We edit only for grammar, not content. If your work lacks basic grammatical fluency, it may not be published.
- Time to publish! You will be asked to send a photo (optional) and a bio (mandatory; no more than 2 sentences). When your piece goes live, you will be notified via email.
Opportunities for Payment
We believe in compensating pro-Black labor. However, given a limited budget, we cannot compensate in the ways we want. Currently, small honorariums will be awarded to those who:
- Have published at least 5 original pieces to BM on a consistent basis, and have generated crazy amounts of online traffic to our site.
Those who meet these requirements will be awarded $30, and $10 per piece thereafter.
Through Black Love and Spirit, we humbly await your submissions!
Fill out the contact form below with a 2-5 sentence pitch. We’ll get back to you within 1-2 business days.
