Patrisse Cullors

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Lore & Background

Cullors was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in a Section 8 apartment in Van Nuys. Her mother Cherice Cullors (or Cherice Cullors-Brignac) is a Jehovah's Witness; her biological father Gabriel Brignac was a repeat offender whose death year is not reliably confirmed. She has three siblings: brothers Paul and Monte, and sister Jasmine. Her brother Monte was arrested in 1998, later diagnosed with schizoaffective and bipolar disorder, and allegedly choked, beaten, and forced to drink toilet water in jail—an experience Cullors cites as a reason for her activism. She witnessed her 11 and 13-year-old brothers being slammed into a wall by police when she was 8, and was arrested at age 12 for smoking marijuana. Cullors became an activist as a teenager, joining the Bus Riders Union under Eric Mann. She earned a degree in Religion and Philosophy from UCLA and an MFA from the Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California. She came out as queer at sixteen and was forced from home; raised as a Jehovah's Witness, she later grew disillusioned and developed an interest in the Nigerian tradition of Ifá. She has given lectures or workshops at Prescott College.

Reader's Guide

Patrisse Cullors is most significant as a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, a decentralized movement that emerged after George Zimmerman's acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin. She created the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in 2013 and became the most publicly visible co-founder after Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi stepped back. Under her leadership, the movement built a network of chapters by 2015 and used social media to highlight violence against African Americans. In 2017, she said the movement would not meet with President Donald Trump, comparing him to Adolf Hitler. She resigned as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in May 2021 to focus on a second book and a multi-year TV deal with Warner Bros. Her activism extends to prison abolition: she served as executive director of the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence in L.A. Jails and co-founded Dignity and Power Now, which advocated for a civilian oversight board. She has been criticized for her personal spending and handling of Black Lives Matter funding. Her ideology draws on black feminists like Audre Lorde and bell hooks, as well as Angela Davis, Frantz Fanon, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong. She defines herself as a prison and police abolitionist and supports reparations for colonial harms. In February 2020, she co-endorsed Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary.

Did You Know?

• Cullors helped popularize the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in 2013 after Alicia Garza created it in a Facebook post about the Trayvon Martin case.
• She was arrested at age 12 for smoking marijuana while attending Van Nuys Middle School for summer school.
• Cullors was forced from her home at sixteen when she revealed her queer identity to her parents.
• In a 2015 interview that resurfaced in 2020, Cullors stated that she and co-founder Garza were 'trained Marxists.'
• She resigned as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in May 2021 to focus on her second book and a multi-year TV deal with Warner Bros.

Formative Years in the San Fernando Valley

Patrisse Cullors was born on June 20, 1983, in Los Angeles, and grew up in a Section 8 apartment in Van Nuys, a poor and largely Mexican-American neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. Her mother, Cherice Foley, is a Jehovah's Witness; her biological father, Gabriel Brignac, was a repeat offender jailed many times on drugs-related charges whom she did not meet until age eleven. Gabriel died in a homeless shelter in 2009. The household was anchored by Alton Cullors, who worked at a General Motors plant in Van Nuys before it shut down, forcing him into low-paying jobs; he eventually left the family. Cullors has spoken about witnessing her 11 and 13-year-old brothers being needlessly slammed into a wall by police when she was 9. Her brother Monte was arrested in 1999 after stealing his mother's car, later diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder, and in a fight with prison officers was allegedly choked, beaten up brutally, and forced to drink toilet water—an experience Cullors cites as a reason for her activism. At age 12, she was arrested for smoking marijuana while attending Van Nuys Middle School for summer school due to poor grades, a school with metal detectors and police presence that shocked her after attending affluent Millikan Middle School.

Building Black Lives Matter

Patrisse Cullors co-founded Black Lives Matter alongside community organizers Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, a project born from frustration over George Zimmerman's acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin. In 2013, Cullors created the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag to corroborate Garza's use of the phrase in a Facebook post about the Martin case. The three set out to build a decentralized movement governed by consensus of a members' collective, and by 2015 a network of chapters was formed. Cullors became the most publicly visible co-founder, especially after Garza and Tometi stepped back from regular involvement. She credits social media as 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."' In 2017, she said the movement would not meet with President Donald Trump, as Trump 'is literally the epitome of evil, all the evils of this country, be it racism, capitalism, sexism, homophobia.' After six years as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Cullors resigned in May 2021 to focus on her second book and a multi-year TV deal with Warner Bros., stating the resignation had been planned for over a year.

Education, Intellectual Formation, and Teaching

Patrisse Cullors became an activist early in life, joining the Bus Riders Union under the leadership of Eric Mann as a teenager, during which she attended a year-long organizing program led by the Labor Community Strategy Center. There she learned about revolutionaries, critical theory, and social movements from around the world. She enrolled at Grover Cleveland High School (now Cleveland Humanities Magnet) in Reseda and was admitted into its social justice magnet program. She went on to acquire a degree in religion and philosophy at UCLA, as well as an MFA from the Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California. Cullors has taught at Otis College of Art and Design in the Public Practice Program and in the Master's Arts in Social Justice and Community Organizing at Prescott College. Her intellectual practice draws on black feminists such as Audre Lorde and bell hooks, Angela Davis, Frantz Fanon, and Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong. In a 2015 interview that resurfaced in 2020, Cullors stated that she and co-founder Garza were 'trained Marxists.' She also developed an interest in the Nigerian religious tradition of Ifá, incorporating its rituals into political protest events, telling an interviewer in 2015 that 'seeking spirituality had a lot to do with trying to seek understanding about my conditions.'

Queer Identity, Faith, and Advocacy Beyond BLM

Patrisse Cullors was forced from her home at sixteen when she revealed her queer identity to her parents. Raised as a Jehovah's Witness, her immediate family was shunned by both the church and extended family members due to her mother's teenage pregnancy; Cullors remained committed to the faith for years even in exile, but later grew disillusioned. Her queer experience informed her advocacy for LGBTQ rights, which she has pursued alongside her work on prison abolition in Los Angeles. She served as executive director of the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence in L.A. Jails, which advocated for a civilian commission to oversee the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, though the group did not succeed in its efforts. She co-founded the prison activist organization Dignity and Power Now, which succeeded in advocating for a civilian oversight board. She is also a board member of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Cullors has faced public scrutiny, including criticism directed at her personal spending and handling of Black Lives Matter funding. Despite controversies, she has maintained that her activism—rooted in critical theory, spiritual practice, and lived experience of state violence—remains a coherent, lifelong commitment.