Black Girls Create Hosting Harry Potter Trivia To Educate Fans & Support Diverse Activist Organisations

Jun 03, 2020

Posted by: Emma Pocock

Charity, Education, Events, Fandom, Fans, News

Black Girls Create will host a Harry Potter Trivia fundraiser with CosQuiz Trivia next Friday, June 12, donating all proceeds to Campaign Zero, a policy-based solution organisation dedicated to ending police brutality, and The National Bailout Fund, which provides support for incarcerated protestors.

If you want to know more about Black Girls Create, a hub for Black creators and critical fandom focusing on elevating the voices of Black women, their work is summarized in their own words:

“Black Girls Create is a unique intersectional hub for Black creators and critical fandom. Through substantive but easily accessible content, we encourage fans to celebrate and critique pop culture while also advocating for and contributing to the increased media representation of Black women specifically, and people of color in general.”

Cosquiz, an organisation hosting themed fan trivia nights, and Black Girls Create, will be discussing the themes of rebellion, incarceration, stereotyping and diversity throughout the trivia event. Trivia questions will mainly from the original seven Harry Potter books, but will also come from Fantastic Beasts. The trivia fundraiser will take part over two sessions via Zoom.

They will also speak more about Campaign Zero and The National Bailout Fund. The trivia night shares an important message, and will include important discussions about fandom spaces that we here at The Leaky Cauldron must also take in and actively implement and learn from:

“As well as trivia, during our intermission we will be speaking more about the organisations that this trivia is supporting and giving information as to how you can support them.
As Potterheads trying to create a more equitable world, it’s important for us to acknowledge that The Wizarding World itself is both a magical yet flawed place. We want to create a space to not only acknowledge this but to also open up conversation about our roles as fans.”
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Open to all (but difficulty level perhaps better suited to adult fans), participants are able to play individually, or form teams. Team scores will be the single highest score earned by a player on the team. ALL participants must pay $5 entry.
The $5 entry fee should be paid via PayPal: PayPal.Me/cosquiz/5. Then follow these instructions:
Participants who have paid their entry fee should fill out this Google form to register their team: https://forms.gle/1oEZmrreRmgdYFsD9. If playing with more than one member on a team, only one person needs to fill out the form but please ensure ALL team members have paid their entrance fee before submitting. Team captains will be emailed the link for the Zoom meeting half an hour before the trivia begins. Questions will be read out by the hosts and displayed on the screen. Participants will answer the questions for each round in an online form which will be submitted and marked by the trivia hosts.
For Session 1, enter the Zoom meeting around 7:50pm, questions start at 8pm AEST. For Session 2, enter the Zoom meeting around 9:50am, questions start at 10am AEST.

Black Girls Create also host the podcast #WizardTeam, a close chapter-by-chapter reread of the Harry Potter series (and beyond) by Bayana Davis and Robyn Jordan. They’ve just posted Episode 239 – Crimes of Grindelwald, Scenes 48-57, so there’s plenty of content to catch up on!

Another important project by Black Girls Create is Hogwarts BSU, a fan fiction project asking Black Potterheads to imagine what it’s like being Black in the Wizarding World: Read stories of Black students at Hogwarts, Black businesses in the Potterverse, and Black Wizard History, and feel free to submit your own stories and art: check out the guidelines! All fics are able to read here.

You can also check out their blog, We Black and Nerds to see what representative fan space looks like:

“The We Black and Nerds blog is a space that works to be representative of our realities and experiences as a way to counter the ones largely depicted in the mainstream. The blog hosts a variety of commentary on popular culture including book reviews, television and film recaps, personal essays, and our contributor-led series The Critical Companion, a bi-monthly themed project that delves into different aspects of critical fandom.”

We are learning what it means to truly support Black voices, and realize The Leaky Cauldron has a responsibility to improve our representation and support of Black fans, and other marginalized voices. Black Girls Create have played a vital role in this through their statement to Mischief Management / LeakyCon (see the response here also, a result of Black Girls Create speaking out). We thank them for being such a crucial fandom voice, during this time, and at all times. If you want to learn from and experience for yourself the incredible work Black Girls Create are doing (and if you really love Harry Potter trivia, of course!), then this event is for you!

Follow Black Girls Create on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube. Appropriate fan voices can contribute to Black Girls Create’s platform here (read guidelines and calls for pitches here). Find out how to support the work of Black Girls Create (via Patreon or one-off donations) here, buy merchandise here, and don’t forget to sign up to their Harry Potter trivia sessions on June 12 here!





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.