On January 15, 2015, the day nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced and all 20 acting nominees were white, writer and former campaign finance lawyer April Reign posted the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite on Twitter. Her first tweet read "#OscarsSoWhite they asked to touch my hair." The hashtag spread quickly, and on Oscar night Reign organized an alternative to the broadcast, a group live tweet of Coming to America.

On January 14, 2016, nominations for the 88th Academy Awards again included no actors of color, and the hashtag returned. Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith announced they would not attend the ceremony, and Will Smith and Michael Moore also stayed away. Reign pointed out that Academy members were 94 percent white and more than 75 percent male, with an average age of 63.

On January 22, 2016, after a special meeting of the Board of Governors with Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy announced changes intended to double…