On July 4th weekend, #YesWeCode made history when it officially launched at Essence Festival – the largest gathering and celebration of African Americans on the planet. The launch included the debut of a robust facebook-designed search tool on yeswecode.org, a tech village featuring 15 coding and tech organizations from all over the country (including Facebook and Google) and the first-ever hackathon at the Essence Festival.

During Friday’s sold-out Prince concert, the Purple Highness himself gave #YesWeCode a shout-out on stage to more than 50,000 people.

Click to see event gallery