Patrisse Cullors

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Patrisse Cullors was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in a Section 8 apartment in Van Nuys. Her mother Cherice Foley is a Jehovah's Witness; her biological father Gabriel Brignac was a repeat offender who died in a homeless shelter in 2009. Cullors has three siblings: two brothers named Paul and Monte, and a sister named Jasmine. Her brother Monte was arrested in 1999 and later diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder; Cullors recalled that in a fight with prison officers he was allegedly choked, beaten up brutally, and forced to drink toilet water, which she has cited as one reason for her activism. At age 12, she was arrested for smoking marijuana while attending summer school at Van Nuys Middle School. She came out as queer at sixteen and was forced from her home; raised as a Jehovah's Witness, she later grew disillusioned with the church and developed an interest in the Nigerian religious tradition of Ifá. Cullors became an activist as a teenager, joining the Bus Riders Union under Eric Mann and attending a year-long organizing program. She earned a degree in religion and philosophy at UCLA and an MFA from the Roski School of Art and Design at USC. Along with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, she founded Black Lives Matter out of frustration over George Zimmerman's acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin. She served as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation for six years, resigning in May 2021 to focus on her second book and a multi-year TV deal with Warner Bros. She has also served as executive director of the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence in L.A. Jails and co-founded the prison activist organization Dignity and Power Now.

Reader's Guide

Patrisse Cullors is significant as a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, a movement that emerged in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman and grew into a decentralized network of chapters. Her creation of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag helped galvanize a global conversation about racial violence and police brutality. Cullors has been the most publicly visible of the three co-founders, especially after Garza and Tometi stepped back from regular involvement. Her activism extends to prison abolition, LGBTQ rights, and civilian oversight of law enforcement, informed by critical theory and figures such as Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, and Frantz Fanon. She has faced criticism over her personal spending and handling of Black Lives Matter funding. Her legacy includes shaping a modern social movement that uses social media to document violence against African Americans and advocating for systemic change, though her resignation from the foundation in 2021 marked a shift toward less visible roles in media and writing.

Did You Know?

• Cullors created the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in 2013 to corroborate Alicia Garza's use of the phrase in a Facebook post about the Trayvon Martin case.
• Her brother Monte was arrested in 1999 and later diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder; Cullors cited his alleged brutalization in jail as one reason for her activism.
• At age 12, Cullors was arrested for smoking marijuana while attending summer school at Van Nuys Middle School, a school with metal detectors and police presence.
• She was forced from her home at sixteen when she revealed her queer identity to her parents.
• In a 2015 interview, Cullors stated that she and co-founder Alicia Garza were 'trained Marxists.'

Roots in Van Nuys and the Seeds of Activism

Patrisse Cullors was born on June 20, 1983, in Los Angeles and raised in a Section 8 apartment in Van Nuys, a poor, largely Mexican-American neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. Her mother Cherice Foley, a Jehovah's Witness, ultimately raised Cullors and her three siblings—Paul, Monte, and Jasmine—after stepfather Alton, a former General Motors plant worker, left the household. Her biological father Gabriel Brignac, a repeat offender jailed many times on drugs-related charges, died in 2009 in a homeless shelter; Cullors described him as having a constant and caring presence in her life. Traumatic encounters with police marked her childhood: at nine she watched officers slam her brothers against a wall, and at twelve she was herself arrested for smoking marijuana while attending summer school at Van Nuys Middle School, a school with metal detectors and police presence. Her brother Monte, arrested in 1999 and later diagnosed with schizoaffective and bipolar disorders, was allegedly choked, beaten, and forced to drink toilet water during a prison altercation—a trauma Cullors has cited as a driving force behind her activism. As a teenager she joined the Bus Riders Union under Eric Mann and attended a year-long organizing program run by the Labor Community Strategy Center, where she learned about revolutionaries, critical theory, and social movements from around the world. She went on to earn a degree in religion and philosophy from UCLA and an MFA from USC's Roski School of Art and Design.

Founding Black Lives Matter

In 2013, Cullors and community organizers Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi founded Black Lives Matter out of shared frustration over George Zimmerman's acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Cullors created the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag that year to corroborate Garza's use of the phrase in a Facebook post about the Martin case. The three co-founders set out to build a decentralized movement governed by consensus of a members' collective, and by 2015 a network of chapters was formed. Cullors has described her personal impetus as rooted in her 19-year-old brother's brutalization during imprisonment in Los Angeles County jails. As Garza and Tometi stepped back from regular involvement, Cullors became the most publicly visible of the co-founders. She has credited social media with being instrumental in revealing violence against African Americans, saying: 'On a daily basis, every moment, black folks are being bombarded with images of our death ... It's literally saying, "Black people, you might be next. You will be next, but in hindsight it will be better for our nation, the less of our kind, the more safe it will be."' In 2017 she said that the movement would not meet with President Donald Trump just as it would not have met with Adolf Hitler, as Trump 'is literally the epitome of evil, all the evils of this country, be it racism, capitalism, sexism, homophobia.'

Advocacy, Spirituality, and Queer Identity

Beyond the Black Lives Matter banner, Cullors has championed prison abolition in Los Angeles and LGBTQ rights, integrating critical theory into her broader political work. Her personal life is deeply intertwined with these causes. At sixteen, she was forced from her home after coming out as queer to her parents. Raised within the Jehovah's Witness faith, her immediate family had already been shunned by the church and extended relatives following her mother's teenage pregnancy. Cullors remained committed to the faith for years even while in exile, but eventually grew disillusioned. She later turned to the Nigerian religious tradition of Ifá, incorporating its rituals into political protest events. In a 2015 interview she explained that 'seeking spirituality had a lot to do with trying to seek understanding about my conditions—how these conditions shape me in my everyday life and how I understand them as part of a larger fight, a fight for my life.' She has also been the subject of public criticism regarding her personal spending and the handling of Black Lives Matter funds, a line of scrutiny she has had to navigate alongside her advocacy.

Teaching, Transition, and What Comes Next

Cullors has held teaching positions at both Otis College of Art and Design in the Public Practice Program and Prescott College in the Master's Arts in Social Justice and Community Organizing program. Her most sustained institutional role was as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a position she held for six years during which she helped set up the organization's infrastructure. In May 2021 she stepped down from that role, explaining that her departure was planned for over a year and unrelated to alleged attempts to discredit her. She cited a desire to focus on her second book and a multi-year TV deal with Warner Bros. as her next priorities. She said: 'I think I will probably be less visible, because I won't be at the helm of one of the largest, most controversial organizations right now in the history of our movement...But no movement is one leader.' Her transition marked a shift from frontline organizational leadership toward creative and intellectual work, though her voice remained embedded in the broader discourse around racial justice.