Black women gamers have always existed. But as of recently, a new generation of millennial women of color are starting to carve out some well-deserved space in the industry.

Black Girl Gamers, founded in 2016, has over 4,600 members from across the world on Twitch. Their platform hosts in-person and pandemic-friendly virtual events where young girl gamers can share their experiences and undergo training sessions in game development and play. INeedDiverseGames is a digital and social media platform promoting diversity in gaming. Launched in 2016, they have 16,000 followers on Twitter and over 1,000 followers on Twitch.

Across the world, Black gamers are building organizations to help foster and encourage black girls to enter the gaming space as influencers, developers and professionals. These organizations provide a network of support for Black girl gamers to connect and feel seen in an industry saturated with white men.

Shana Wilcox, 36, co-founded Thumbstick Mafia in 2015. It’s an online publication dedicated to helping streamers and content creators of color grow their platforms.

“It’s important for Black women and gamers of color to have these safe spaces online because everywhere else sucks,” said Wilcox. “Gaming should be fun and something for you to enjoy in your free time so to not have that space to just enjoy something you like to do is disheartening.”

Platforms like Thumbstick Mafia and Black Girl Gamers were created in direct response to the years of racial abuse experienced by Black women gamers online.

"Having that sisterhood of Black women is really important," said Shakeema Hill, who goes by “KeeKeeXBaby” online. "It's kind of like a support group where we can just vent and we don't have to explain our thought process behind what we're feeling because, as Black women, we just get it."

When Thumbstick Mafia was first launched, the goal was simply to start a dialogue between Black women gamers. Now, the platform serves as a resource for emerging content creators to learn and mentor one another on how to create better content.

Over the past year, social media influencers have used their platforms to speak at length about civil rights and injustice. Wilcox said some Black content creators feel like they are being forced into this space of activism. These online communities give Black gamers the space to simply be gamers.

“Thumbstick Mafia just wants to showcase their talent,” said Wilcox. “We want to sit and talk about video games, competitive games, tournaments and just be able to participate without things being so highly focused on diversity and inclusion all the time.”