'A Different World' Celebrates its 35th Year Anniversary at a Time of Climbing HBCU Enrollment.
Historically Black colleges and universities have seen undergrad enrollment dramatically increase since 2020. Many factors play into the rising numbers, including the legacy of 'A Different World.'
I was seven years old when A Different World made its television debut in 1987, and needless to say, I was not interested in college at the time. I, like many Black kids and teens and adults, was a regular viewer of The Cosby Show and kinda understood that its spin-off was going to be focused on Lisa Bonet’s Denise Huxtable character going to college.
In 1987, I couldn’t tell you anything about the legacy of historically Black colleges, or about living in a dorm. I did not know that prior to the creation of A Different World there had not been any television shows that ever focused on Black kids in college — after all, I was seven, so all I really knew was that “Rudy’s” big sister was going off to school, and Cliff and Claire were proud of her.
I did know that both of my parents attended Southern University-Baton Rouge and that the football games they took me and my brothers to on Southern’s campus consisted of what looked like a 99.999% Black crowd. I knew the marching band was loud and full of energy. I knew the fans would belt out the school’s fight song and wave Columbia blue and gold pom-poms. At a very young age, I sensed there was something special about the environment on the campus but was not old enough to put my finger on exactly what it was.
I knew that college was a place the “big kids” went after high school, that my parents were bringing me to a college campus, and that maybe one day, when I became a big kid, I too would go to college.
The premiere season of A Different World did not connect any of those dots for seven-year-old Donney because seven-year-old Donney was more interested in the plight of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than he was concerned about how Denise would adjust to life at Hillman College. But similar to how the lifeline of the show would ultimately impact the college decisions of Black children across the nation, the later seasons would prove influential in me inevitably choosing to be educated at an HBCU.
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