How Black creators are building their own table in the fight for political power ahead of the 2026 midterm elections

In an interview with theGrio award-winning digital creator Abiola Agoro opens up about launching a Black Digital Renaissance.

Abiola Agoro had been searching for something she simply wasn’t finding.

As an educator, political organizer, and content creator, she’d watched conferences and gatherings attempt to bring digital creators into conversations about politics, culture, and community. Yet, despite the influence Black creators wield online, she couldn’t help but notice how often they were overlooked or treated as an afterthought.

“There have been an increasing amount of gatherings that are happening, either that are kind of just random asides or additions to events that were already happening, or that are themselves like convenings, but they don’t necessarily highlight Black creators,” she told theGrio over the phone on Oct. 20. 

The award-winning digital content creator, who reaches well over a hundreds of thousands of followers across her platforms, was envisioning something more along the lines of an event focused solely on Black creators. Without really finding it, she started floating the idea of launching one in a few different group chats among her peers; she quickly realized she wasn’t the only one looking for that type of environment.

“We realized that there were so many Black creators that just weren’t really being included in things,” she recalled.

Now, that vision has blossomed into the inaugural Black Digital Renaissance, a three-day gathering taking place Thursday, Oct. 22 through Saturday, Oct. 24 that will bring over 100 Black digital content creators and organizers to Birmingham, Alabama, just weeks before the November midterm elections.

“I think this is a perfect example of how if you’re not invited to the table, you build your own,” actress and activist Malynda Hale, who is on the planning committee for the gathering, told theGrio.

Bringing together Black content creators, political organizers and media personalities from across the country with a combined reach of millions, the conference aims to build community, strengthen their collective influence and explore how their platforms can help mobilize voters. With voting rights and Black political representation facing renewed threats, organizers see an urgent need to recognize the power Black creators have to shape online conversations that inspire action offline.

The gathering kicked off Thursday with opportunities for attendees to connect before moving into panels, roundtables, and discussions Friday. Conversations will range from navigating ideological differences among Black progressives, liberals and leftists to building personal brands and sustainable careers. Among those involved are Hale and other top content creators like George Lee, also known as Conscious Lee, Angel Carrol, Ryan Howze, Just Wayne, Amber Sherman, and Lawrence Carter.

The intention behind the weekend can be felt right down to its location, a newly opened center adjacent to Birmingham’s historic 16th Street Baptist Church, where, on September 15, 1963, members of the Ku Klux Klan planted a bomb that killed four little Black girls: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair.

The bombing, which shocked the nation and became a defining moment of the Civil Rights Movement, was no random act of violence. The church, like several Black churches in American history, had served as a major organizing hub for civil rights leaders and organizers fighting segregation in Birmingham. Hosting a conference dedicated to strengthening Black political power in the shadow of that history feels especially fitting as voting rights face new legal and political challenges, particularly across the South.

“We wanted to start at the heart of where a lot of things are, and that’s Birmingham,” Agoro explained.

Attendees will also tour the church Saturday, learning more about its history and the movement it helped sustain. For Hale, who lives in California, the opportunity to bring Black creators from different regions together in Birmingham is equally meaningful.

“For us all to come together around the country into the heart of the civil rights movement, it’s going to be a really powerful moment,” the “Bull Street” star said. “This is how we come together as a community. This is how we use our voices, and we’re going to start right here where we’re fighting for rights still.”

Along with the history and programming, organizers are looking forward to interacting and building relationships “irl” for a change. This includes connecting established influencers with smaller creators whose impact may be felt more directly in their communities. As Agoro explained, while some attendees have millions of followers, others have considerably smaller audiences but no less valuable relationships with the people they reach.

“It’s not just about numbers, right?” she stressed. “We have creators that have, you know, maybe 10,000 followers, but they’re community leaders.”

Those relationships are what make creators such an important part of today’s political landscape. Through the trust they’ve established with their audiences, they can help bridge the gap between candidates, organizers and voters who might otherwise never connect.

With all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and numerous state and local races and ballot initiatives on the line this November, many are calling the 2026 midterms the most consequential election of our lifetime to date. For Black voters in particular, the outcomes could shape everything from voting access and political representation to the policies affecting their everyday lives.

“We see voting rights being taken away in the South. We see Black political power is trying to be diminished, and so we wanted to come together in a way that shows people we actually do have the power,” Hale said. “Your vote does matter, and let us help you to mobilize it.”

The Black Digital Renaissance is arriving amid a wave of Black-led efforts finding creative ways to engage voters ahead of November. In September, Michelle Obama’s nonpartisan civic engagement initiative, When We All Vote, launched its Voting Squad, a network of content creators bringing voting information directly to millions of young people’s social media feeds. 

Meanwhile, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Black Women’s Roundtable kicked off their 21-day Power of the Sister Vote tour earlier this month, joining forces with Black women-led organizations to mobilize voters across nine states.

“We’re not just a sideshow,” Agoro said about the growing rate of content creators meaningfully being included in initiatives.

For Agoro, the hope is that Birmingham will be just the beginning. She’s already considering future gatherings in cities across the country, building a network of Black creators who can share opportunities, amplify one another, and continue organizing long after November. After all, the goal was never simply to host another conference. It was to create a space where Black creators could recognize their collective power and decide what to do with it.

“We’re just going to come together and figure out how to do it ourselves because we really have more power in numbers,” Hale said.