diff --git a/changelog.d/9781.misc b/changelog.d/9781.misc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d1c73fc741
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/9781.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Update Black configuration to target Python 3.6.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index cd880d4e39..8bca1fa4ef 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
         showcontent = true
 
 [tool.black]
-target-version = ['py35']
+target-version = ['py36']
 exclude = '''
 
 (
diff --git a/synapse/config/tls.py b/synapse/config/tls.py
index ad37b93c02..85b5db4c40 100644
--- a/synapse/config/tls.py
+++ b/synapse/config/tls.py
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ class TlsConfig(Config):
         tls_certificate_path,
         tls_private_key_path,
         acme_domain,
-        **kwargs
+        **kwargs,
     ):
         """If the acme_domain is specified acme will be enabled.
         If the TLS paths are not specified the default will be certs in the
diff --git a/synapse/handlers/presence.py b/synapse/handlers/presence.py
index c817f2952d..0047907cd9 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/presence.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/presence.py
@@ -1071,7 +1071,7 @@ class PresenceEventSource:
         room_ids=None,
         include_offline=True,
         explicit_room_id=None,
-        **kwargs
+        **kwargs,
     ) -> Tuple[List[UserPresenceState], int]:
         # The process for getting presence events are:
         #  1. Get the rooms the user is in.
diff --git a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
index 5f01ebd3d4..ab47dec8f2 100644
--- a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
+++ b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient:
         self,
         request: MatrixFederationRequest,
         try_trailing_slash_on_400: bool = False,
-        **send_request_args
+        **send_request_args,
     ) -> IResponse:
         """Wrapper for _send_request which can optionally retry the request
         upon receiving a combination of a 400 HTTP response code and a
diff --git a/synapse/http/site.py b/synapse/http/site.py
index c0c873ce32..32b5e19c09 100644
--- a/synapse/http/site.py
+++ b/synapse/http/site.py
@@ -497,7 +497,7 @@ class SynapseSite(Site):
         resource,
         server_version_string,
         *args,
-        **kwargs
+        **kwargs,
     ):
         Site.__init__(self, resource, *args, **kwargs)
 
diff --git a/synapse/storage/database.py b/synapse/storage/database.py
index fa15b0ce5b..77ef29ec71 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/database.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/database.py
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         exception_callbacks: List[_CallbackListEntry],
         func: "Callable[..., R]",
         *args: Any,
-        **kwargs: Any
+        **kwargs: Any,
     ) -> R:
         """Start a new database transaction with the given connection.
 
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         func: "Callable[..., R]",
         *args: Any,
         db_autocommit: bool = False,
-        **kwargs: Any
+        **kwargs: Any,
     ) -> R:
         """Starts a transaction on the database and runs a given function
 
@@ -682,7 +682,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         func: "Callable[..., R]",
         *args: Any,
         db_autocommit: bool = False,
-        **kwargs: Any
+        **kwargs: Any,
     ) -> R:
         """Wraps the .runWithConnection() method on the underlying db_pool.
 
@@ -775,7 +775,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         desc: str,
         decoder: Optional[Callable[[Cursor], R]],
         query: str,
-        *args: Any
+        *args: Any,
     ) -> R:
         """Runs a single query for a result set.
 
diff --git a/tests/replication/slave/storage/test_events.py b/tests/replication/slave/storage/test_events.py
index 333374b183..db80a0bdbd 100644
--- a/tests/replication/slave/storage/test_events.py
+++ b/tests/replication/slave/storage/test_events.py
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ class SlavedEventStoreTestCase(BaseSlavedStoreTestCase):
         prev_state: Optional[list] = None,
         redacts=None,
         push_actions: Iterable = frozenset(),
-        **content
+        **content,
     ):
         prev_events = prev_events or []
         auth_events = auth_events or []
diff --git a/tests/test_state.py b/tests/test_state.py
index 83383d8872..0d626f49f6 100644
--- a/tests/test_state.py
+++ b/tests/test_state.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def create_event(
     depth=2,
     event_id=None,
     prev_events: Optional[List[str]] = None,
-    **kwargs
+    **kwargs,
 ):
     global _next_event_id
 
diff --git a/tests/test_utils/event_injection.py b/tests/test_utils/event_injection.py
index c3c4a93e1f..3dfbf8f8a9 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils/event_injection.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils/event_injection.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ async def inject_member_event(
     membership: str,
     target: Optional[str] = None,
     extra_content: Optional[dict] = None,
-    **kwargs
+    **kwargs,
 ) -> EventBase:
     """Inject a membership event into a room."""
     if target is None:
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ async def inject_event(
     hs: synapse.server.HomeServer,
     room_version: Optional[str] = None,
     prev_event_ids: Optional[List[str]] = None,
-    **kwargs
+    **kwargs,
 ) -> EventBase:
     """Inject a generic event into a room
 
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ async def create_event(
     hs: synapse.server.HomeServer,
     room_version: Optional[str] = None,
     prev_event_ids: Optional[List[str]] = None,
-    **kwargs
+    **kwargs,
 ) -> Tuple[EventBase, EventContext]:
     if room_version is None:
         room_version = await hs.get_datastore().get_room_version_id(kwargs["room_id"])
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index 2e34fad11c..c78d3e5ba7 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ def setup_test_homeserver(
     config=None,
     reactor=None,
     homeserver_to_use: Type[HomeServer] = TestHomeServer,
-    **kwargs
+    **kwargs,
 ):
     """
     Setup a homeserver suitable for running tests against.  Keyword arguments