this is "nightline." >> tonight, new kids on tiktok. we're with the barrier-breaking influencers from atlanta. busting a move. young, gifted, and black. taking the fight for equality from the streets to social media. >> we have to fight for those opportunities. >> plus the trailblaziing tuskegee airmen. how the african-american pilots fought for freedom both abroad and here at home. >> the training program was designed for our failure. they didn't want any black pilots, period. freaking hard. you get advice like: try hypnosis... or... quit cold turkey. kidding me?! instead, start small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette

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receive a chargepoint home flex charger or a $500 public charging credit. see your volvo retailer for details. ♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight, crushing the social media game. the young content creators marking atlanta as the next influencer capital. and joining forces to carve out spaces they can uniquely call their own. here's "nightline's" ashan singh. >> turn to the side. so that means we're going to need three of us -- >> it's better than moving around. >> pan out -- yeah. >> reporter: these guys are about to bust it.

>> go! ♪ >> reporter: the viral challenge that's got all of tiktok dropping. but when these guys post, they blaze a trail. ♪ bust it bust it bust it ♪ >> reporter: two mansions. 35 creators. with billions of views between them. and most importantly, they're all black. meet the atl's hottest and newest industry. welcome to the influencers of atlanta! as the nation's racial conscience receives a gut check, the fight for equality is as prevalent as ever. >> say her name! >> breonna taylor! >> reporter: americans taking to the streets and using their platforms to speak out against police brutality and for social equity. now it's about inequality on social media platforms. these kids, without realizing it, are on the front lines for

the fight for who goes viral. >> do you feel it's your job to put black influencers on the map? >> it is. because it's a struggle, like it's been a struggle for the black culture for many, many, many years. sometimes they aren't given opportunities so we have to fight for opportunities. >> a lot of black creators don't get credit they deserve. we've been working hard, other black creators have been working hard. >> reporter: the valid and collab crib are taking back ownership. the man in charge, 33-year-old keith dorsey. he manages both cribs when we talk about these content houses, usually we point to places like los angeles, dallas. >> right. >> why do this here? why atlanta? >> instead of us going to l.a. where we have to fight for a table, let's build our own table here in atlanta. >> reporter: since setting roots down in atlanta this fall, it hasn't been easy. >> we have to technically fight for a lot of the opportunities that we have. even the ones that we have now, it took a lot of work and a lot

of explaining, a lot of tears, like please, please, we're here. >> reporter: between both houses, the average age is barely 20 years old. with over 14 million followers and over 360 million likes. valid crib began organically in a group chat run by best friends and tiktok stars devron harris and d'adrian hardy. >> over time we kept gradually adding more people to the group chat. everybody in our group is funny, that's how we integrate with each other. >> i quit my job, started earning some money. that's when i started to go serious. >> then i moved to atl, met adrian. >> reporter: they showed me around their house, which naturally doubles as a content studio. >> this is kind of the area we all are creating. >> i like it a lot. >> get ready for doomsday!

>> we're an hour outside downtown atlanta, headed to the collab crib. 31 miles down the road. >> what's going on? >> reporter: collab crib, a super group of influencers from comedians and actors to singers and dancers. >> we in the future now. we in the future. everybody on tiktok, instagram, if you're not on it, what are you doing? >> reporter: it's hard for black creators to gain the same clout as their white counterparts. "new york times" culture and technology reporter taylor lorenz has been following the issue. >> sometimes black influencers haven't gotten the brand deals because they don't have the numbers. you make money by having people relate to you. a lot of white suburban kids feel like they can't relate to black kids in america. they have traditionally taken what they wanted from those communities and maybe whitewashed it, but not really paid homage or paid respect to the actual creators creating this stuff. >> what are some of the

disparities you notice about the way social media companies and brands treat black influencers versus white influencers? >> we did notice sometimes black influencers' numbers are kind of low, lower than white influencers. >> reporter: tiktok's algorithm has left the app vulnerable to criticism. >> every network is structured the same way. you follow people to see their content, hopefully people follow you back to see your own content. tiktok breaks that. you don't have to have a single follower to blow and up go viral. it's this algorithm that plucks the best content from the app. >> reporter: this summer tiktok released the following statement after users identified a glitch in the platform that blocked the view count on black lives matter and george floyd writing, we acknowledge and apologize to our black creators who have felt unsafe, unsupported, suppressed. we don't want anyone to feel that way. we welcome the voices of the black community wholeheartedly. we reached out more recently for

comment. tiktok telling us in part, we continue to remain committed to elevating and amplifying black voices and creators in our community. we've launched the tiktok for black creatives program, a new inkuwaiter program that will invest in and support emerging black creators, adding, we care about the experiences black creators have on tiktok. there's been new changes too, like adding choreography credits to posts, making sure the creator gets recognition. >> even allow the dance challenges coming from black creators, it got adopted to a lot of the white creators and it took off, and they make millions of dollars off of it. >> reporter: when 16-year-old jilea harmon created "the renegade," a dance crazy that swept the internet in 2019. every teenager and celebrity across the world knew the viral trend, but most didn't know jilea's name. credit means more followers, more followers means more money. while keith's influencers are followed by millions, their numbers pale in comparison to some of the app's biggest

charles like charli damelie. >> i believe charli made $5 million last year. the first way influencers monetize is through ads on their page. another way is through launching their own products. there's the patron and subscription model. a lot of influencers will use different platforms that generate recurring revenue. >> how much can somebody stand to make? >> say if someone has 500,000 followers, they get 200,000 views per post. they could make anywhere from, you know, $2,000 on the low end, $5,000 on the high end. >> they're monetizing everything. especially when you're a small creator. sometimes you might charge for shout-outs. somebody wants a happy birthday message, you charge for that. somebody wants you to comment or like their picture on instagram, you can charge for that. you can monetize every aspect of your personal brand and your life. >> reporter: when it came time to build a brand, it just had to be atlanta. >> atlanta's definitely next. we got a lot of potential here

in atlanta too. it's like a black l.a. >> hollywood. >> yeah, a black hollywood. >> definitely a black hollywood. >> you hear the phrase black hollywood when talking about atlanta, what does that mean? >> it means that if you want to find success in the entertainment industry, you're not interested in going to new york or l.a., you can find similar or even better success here in atlanta. >> reporter: culture reporter and local naja parker says atlanta's influence has existed for generations. >> tell me about some of the biggest names to come out of atlanta. >> tlc, usher, t.i. comes to find. taylor mike comes to mind. ludacris comes to mind. tyler perry is a huge name that comes to mind. it's the biggest consortium of hbcus in the city and a lot of celebrities and civil rights leaders have come out of those institutions. >> a lot of black influencers have found they've been at a disadvantage in l.a. a lot of the biggest creator houses in l.a. or all white or

dominated by white creators. >> reporter: with pioneering a new space comes the pressure to get it right. >> we've got one shot at this, only one shot to show the entire world what we can do, and it's not only just for us, it's going to change it for everything in atlanta. >> reporter: keith was determined, and any one of these creators will tell you, whether it's collab or valley, they wouldn't be here without him. >> keith is the man. >> the man with the plan. >> keith has everything set up for us. >> he's been looking out for me from the beginning, the mastermind, the leader. >> big bro. >> yeah. >> every one of them said they would not be here, doing this in this way, without you. what does that mean to you, man? >> it means a lot. the reason why is because -- excuse me. it's like, when i really hear them say, like thank you, you know -- it means a lot to me. because it's like -- this really is something we, like, really

fought for. >> reporter: whether we get it or not, these kids know they have a bigger calling and that this is just the beginning. >> it's starting to change. there's no other house like this. >> i would have never thought i'd be here. you know, it just shows you working for something, you don't give up. >> this feels like we have to prove what we're made of. it's like, it's literally showtime, we're showing everybody what we're capable of. >> my whole goal for all of them is to elevate their true talent. because we're in the course of changing history here. when it's over and we get what we want, then there's a great reward at the end. >> you all really want it? >> yes. >> foaming at the mouth? >> yes. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm ashan singh in atlanta. >> our thanks to ashan. how the groundbreaking tuskegee airmen fought the war and racial injustice.

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more than 407,000 american service members died during world war ii, including warriors with the famed tuskegee airmen, a group of pioneering black aviators who fought evils at home and overseas. here's "gma" coanchor robin roberts with her history channel special. >> it's not its branch but its root. tuskegee airmen was the root of making this country respect black aviators. >> reporter: their historic achievements would inspire great change in the military and at home. in september 1939, great britain and france declare war on

germany. one year later, the u.s. launches its first peacetime draft. all men between the ages of 21 and 35, regardless of race, are required to register. among them is charles mcgee from cleveland, ohio. >> and i learned about the program because of the now called tuskegee airmen. the first were the mechanics. the policy of the army at the time was saying that, they couldn't use a black pilot because there were no black mechanics. they insisted on segregation. >> reporter: the same year, under pressure from the naacp, president roosevelt orders the army air corps to begin training black pilots in alabama at tuskegee institute. >> we were trained by black instructors. their job was twofold. one, teach us to fly. and secondly, to condition us

for the white instructors that we would have in basic and advanced. >> reporter: in early 1941, the 99 pursuit squadron was established. but the pilots at tuskegee aren't given a combat mission, despite their stellar training record. finally, in april 1943, 16 months after pearl harbor, the 99 pursuit squadron is sent into combat. my dad was in the 477th medium bombardment group. our war, my dad said, was also fighting bigotry, prejudice, and segregation. the men of the 99th are used as escorts, or support fighter pilots, one of the riskiest roles in air combat. their job was to protect white pilots flying in b-17 and b-24 bombers. to the surprise of white pilots,

the tuskegee airmen go on to play a vital role in the u.s. victory in world war ii. >> yesterday i fulfilled one of my ambitions as a combat pilot. i got one airplane. >> reporter: by the time of their last mission, in april 1945, they had flown over 15,000 sorties and earned one legion of merit, one silver star, 14 bronze stars, 96 distinguished flying crosses, and many purple hearts. but the returning tuskegee airmen were in for disappointment. >> segregation was still a part of the army leaders. >> reporter: just prior to the war's end, at the freeman field air field in indiana, a group of tuskegee-trained pilots decided to push back against their mistreatment. this event and others drew attention to the issue of discrimination in the military, and by 1948, president truman

integrated the armed services. >> they made the decision to bring about a change, and that's why i'd say the air force really led our country in the integration and evening of opportunity. >> it goes from generation to generation. but you need that young fire to help push us to where we need to go. >> we didn't set out and go do it because that's what we wanted to happen, but certainly what was accomplished is we carry on the valuable lessons we have to pass on to youngsters for the future. >> as a younger person who was finding my way, seeing the great sacrifice that the tuskegee airmen made is what sort of gave me inspiration. >> reporter: that inspiration, the fuel for generations of black americans, was widely recognized in 2007. when more than 300 of the orange

tuskegee airmen received the congressional gold medal. >> the tuskegee airmen helped win a war, you helped change our nation for the better. >> i never thoht i'd no wo >> reporter: my father passed away in 2004. but his legacy, like that of all the tuskegee airmen, is enduring. it is a legacy of determination, pride, and courage. >> "tuskegee airmen: legacy of courage" premieres on the history channel tomorrow night at 8/7 central. up next, the fight for free speech in america. ♪ ♪

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♪ finally tonight, the second impeachment trial of former president trump reawakening a fierce debate over free speech in america. to better understand our first amendment rights, recently i spoke to "nightline's" legal counsel ian rosenberg, out with

a new book "the fight for free speech." first off, congratulations on this work. who did you write this book for? >> i see the fight for free speech as a users' guide for understanding our freedomomom ty and how we may want to go about changing them for the future. >> one of thehings i was struck by, it's not the big names or the big corporations, oftentimes, but it's regular folk who fight and defend and are passionate about this issue of free speech. >> well, that's absolutely right. i wanted to tell the stories of the individuals whose fight to preserve and protect and defend their right to speak led to a change in the law. and then there's another set of stories. it's the decisions by the supreme court justices, a story about the meaning of america. and that meaning not only legally is changing, but keeps evolving as we progress as a society, that i think charting it is fascinating and inspiring. >> our thanks to ian.

that's "nightline" for this evening. see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.