“There are moments in American history that captivate us all,” Google’s “most searched” ad, which premiered during the 2020 Grammys on Sunday, begins. Similar to its popular annual “Year In Search” recap, the Black History Month clip features a montage of top searched icons and moments — including Beyoncé’s Coachella show (the most searched performance), Maya Angelou (the most searched female poet), Serena Williams (the most searched tennis player), and many more.
According to Google, data was gathered by identifying Black achievements that were most searched between January 1, 2004 and July 1, 2019. “In other words, being the most searched talk show host means Oprah Winfrey was searched more than all other talk show hosts over this 15-year span,” Google explains. Basically, everyone featured in this video is a pretty big deal.
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This February, we're celebrating the Black history makers who have helped shape and influence American culture. According to @GoogleTrends data, these icons, events and movements are #TheMostSearched in the U.S. → https://t.co/oySml0B7qN #BHM pic.twitter.com/67nRIDENbq
— Google (@Google) January 26, 2020
The ad plays into a larger initiative in which Google.org plans to support NAACP’s Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) with a $3 million USD grant. ACT-SO has so far created an opportunity for over 300,000 Black high school students to build a future in STEM. In 2018, Google.org also committed $25 million USD to help Black and Latino students build successful futures.
Learn more and check out Google’s interactive “most searched” timeline here. Check out the video above.