Cast members of Netflix’s “A Different World” pose on a brick wall bearing the Hillman College name in a promotional photo for the sequel series. Photo courtesy of Netflix.
The return of the hit sitcom “A Different World” has brought historically Black colleges and universities back to the television spotlight, once again bringing the black community together across the globe and prompting FAMU students as well as alumni to reflect on what it means to see their culture, challenges and traditions represented on the big screen.
For Kinsani Duncan, a FAMU student who first watched the original series as a child after immigrating from Jamacia, A Different World offered her an early introduction and connection to Black culture and eventually helped inform her decision to attend an HBCU.
“I remember feeling really isolated from Blackness,” Duncan said. “I immigrated from Jamaica, but where I immigrated to was a predominantly white and non-Black area in school. I remember scrolling through Netflix on my mom’s TV, and I saw this show with everybody’s face being Black. I was like, ‘Oh, let me watch this.’ I watched it and absolutely fell in love with it.”
Duncan said the original series introduced her to the concept of HBCU’s and shined a light on subjects she didn’t fully grasp as a 12-year-old, but upon growing older and rewatching the show, she said she developed a deeper appreciation for its messages.
“It introduced me to the concept of HBCUs,” she said. “It introduced me to a lot of really heavy topics that I wasn’t fully prepared to handle at 12 years old. But rewatching it with increasingly adult eyes, I was able to develop an even greater appreciation for it. It is what led me to applying to an HBCU.”
The new series also resonated with her because it reflected recent events that she experienced on her own campus at FAMU. She pointed to an episode involving bomb threats, recalling the pressure she felt as a resident assistant during threats on campus. She stated they did an incredible job of portraying tense moments in the show, directly reflecting moments that HBCU students resonate all across with across the nation.
Naveah Palmer, a FAMU alumna (top right) takes a photo with fellow co-stars on set (Anastasya Lubin)
Naveah Palmer, a FAMU alumna who appeared in the new series as a royal court member Miss Dorothy Hyatt Hall, said that the real authenticity, came from including current HBCU students as well as graduates in the production.
“Majority of everyone there was either an HBCU student currently or they were a graduate,” Palmer said. “We had people who were active students from HBCUs that were not in Atlanta traveling to be part of it. It was cool seeing us all show up for our community and wanting to represent HBCU culture,.”
McKinley C.K Wilson, a FAMU graduate who was also a part of the show’s production as a background actor, said the production captured the wide range of experiences students bring to HBCU campus. He said the show didn’t reduce black students to one type of character or one shared path.
“I love how they highlighted the financial-aid problems, the lack of funding that a lot of HBCUs get and the perils that can create for students,” Wilson said. “When they wrote these characters and gave them these storylines, they captured the diversity of how HBCU students can show up. You had the athlete, the church girl, people navigating their sexuality and people trying to figure out who they are. I feel like they encapsulated that in an authentic way.”
Palmer also mentions how the director, Debbie Allen, encouraged cast members to rely on their own lived experiences rather censor themselves for television.
“If we were holding back, Debbie would stop it,” Palmer said. “She would say, ‘Y’all wouldn’t actually do that. Do what you would actually do.’ For party scenes, dancing and interacting with people, she told us, ‘Do it how you would actually do it on campus. Don’t try to censor yourself.’”
The show was listed as the #1 TV Show in the world on Netflix and has already been renewed for a second season, which will follow Deborah Wayne and the other Hillman students as they return for their sophomore year.
For Duncan, Wilson, Palmer, and HBCU students across the country, “A Different World” matters because it makes space for the complete HBCU experience, highlighting traditions and joy that draws students of all backgrounds together, but also the adversity like financial burdens, uncertainty and personal growth that shape their time on campus. All in all, it gives viewers outside these communities a closer look at HBCU life, while affirming for students that their stories are worth seeing tell and preserving for future generations to see.