diff --git a/.git-blame-ignore-revs b/.git-blame-ignore-revs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..932c2ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.git-blame-ignore-revs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# black-ification of code
+479b6e706293ff1a484e4e121682f3a105a53aa9
+7bc3166cfecdd120b544701cff5e37b4482cbbb5
+f4b749d148f0eb13e7e92fbbf7e2eae79de2543a
+373ac8bf731db1002e09859587c475a5f56c4e8b
+50c59d395bc539eb411f9a5c6cdf04d37510060a
+5dc982edbfc2633cd2c7a22ebd314d1b9b810a9a
+44dba4fde90e8010ea6c71c6cf51b34413440177
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 9a2562a..ec89552 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -69,4 +69,8 @@ Style
 
   Then `black` and `flake8` will be run automatically each time you
   commit changes. You can skip these checks with `git commit
-  --no-verify`.
+  --no-verify`. You can also configure your local git clone to have
+  `git blame` ignore the commits that introduced large formatting-only
+  changes with:
+
+    $ git config blame.ignoreRevsFile .git-blame-ignore-revs