What is Microaggression?

A microaggression is a comment or behavior, often unintentional, that reflects bias toward a minority group, like asking a non-white American where they are 'really' from.

Where did Microaggression come from?

Harvard psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce coined the term in 1970 to describe daily slights aimed at African Americans, and MIT economist Mary Rowe expanded it in 1973 to cover remarks aimed at women.

What does Microaggression mean?

In everyday online use, microaggression means a small, routine comment that insults a disadvantaged group without the speaker necessarily intending offense, such as a 'you're so articulate' compliment to a Black professional.

How do you use Microaggression?

A typical post pairs a photograph of the person who received the remark with a handwritten quote of exactly what was said, a template popularized by the I Too Am Harvard Tumblr in 2014 and the BuzzFeed listicle format before it.

Is Microaggression still popular?

The word is still in regular use in diversity training and campus discourse. Its peak as viral online content was 2014 through 2015, driven by Tumblr campaigns and university training-list controversies.

Microaggression

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Published October 23, 2026

Microaggression names those small, often unintentional comments that insult a minority group, like asking an Asian American 'where are you really from?' Harvard psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce coined the word in 19703, but it only hit mainstream internet discourse through 2014 photo campaigns like I Too Am Harvard and BuzzFeed listicles that turned specific overheard remarks into viral content1. By mid-2015, universities were handing faculty actual lists of forbidden phrases4.

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Overview

Online, microaggression refers to a casual slight whose speaker often has no idea they insulted anyone. Typical examples cited in viral posts include telling a Black colleague they are 'articulate', asking a Latina woman to 'speak English', or complimenting an Asian American on their English1. The subject writes the actual quote on a whiteboard or piece of paper and poses with it, letting the reader read the awkward exchange firsthand3.

The word carries two very different online tones. Earnest usage treats these moments as everyday evidence of bias worth documenting2. Dismissive usage, common on Reddit and in conservative commentary, mocks the concept as oversensitivity, with Urban Dictionary definitions boiling it down to 'statements that offend snowflakes'7. That split between activist archive and conservative punchline defined most microaggression discussion from 2014 onward.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Academic (coinage) / Tumblr (viral spread)

Creator

Chester M. Pierce

Date

1970

Harvard University psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce coined 'microaggression' in 1970 to describe the dismissive statements and insults aimed at African Americans in daily life3. MIT economist Mary Rowe expanded the concept in 1973 to cover remarks aimed at women, and over the following decades scholars widened it to any socially disadvantaged group3.

The word stayed inside academic literature until October 4th, 2010, when the Johnwileysons YouTube channel uploaded 'Microaggression in Everyday Life', an interview with author Derald Wing Sue explaining the theory for a general audience5. The following March, writer Vivian Lu and editor David Zhou launched the Microaggressions Project, a Tumblr-style blog meant to provide 'a visual representation of the everyday' of microaggressions through user-submitted anecdotes2.

How It Spread

BuzzFeed brought the concept to a mass audience on December 9th, 2013, with the listicle '21 Racial Microaggressions You Hear On a Daily Basis', a photo set of ethnic minority students holding handwritten signs quoting things strangers had said to them1. The format caught fire on Tumblr. On March 1st, 2014, Harvard sophomore Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence launched the Tumblr blog I Too Am Harvard, filled with similar whiteboard portraits of Black Harvard students3. Within weeks, copycat campaigns appeared at Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Penn3.

University administrators began formalizing the idea in 2015. In May, the University of Wisconsin released a document titled 'Examples of Racial Microaggressions' that drew backlash for listing phrases like 'America is a melting pot' and 'I believe the most qualified person should get the job'4. On June 10th, 2015, The College Fix reported that University of California professors had been shown similar lists in faculty training, including 'America is the land of opportunity' and 'There is only one race, the human race'6.

The backlash hit mainstream press that summer. MTV News uploaded 'If Microaggressions Happened to White People' on July 22nd, 2015, a sketch series inverting the dynamic3. Weeks later, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and FIRE president Greg Lukianoff published 'The Coddling of the American Mind' in The Atlantic, blaming microaggression culture for a rise in campus 'emotional reasoning'3.

Timeline

1970

Harvard psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce coins 'microaggression' to describe daily slights aimed at African Americans.

1973

MIT economist Mary Rowe expands the concept to cover remarks aimed at women.

2010-10-04

Johnwileysons YouTube channel uploads 'Microaggression in Everyday Life', an interview with Derald Wing Sue.

2011-03-22

The Microaggressions Project blog launches to collect user-submitted anecdotes.

2013-12-09

BuzzFeed publishes '21 Racial Microaggressions You Hear On a Daily Basis'.

2014-03-01