On Thursday, students of Atlanta-based HBCUs are in for an experience bound to place them in “a different world.”
The Atlanta University Center — home of Historically Black Colleges and Universities Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College — is hosting the kickoff to a 10-city college tour that reunites the cast of the groundbreaking NBC sitcom “A Different World” over 35 years after the series premiere.
In addition to Emmy-winning Atlanta actress and director Jasmine Guy, the event will feature former cast members Kadeem Hardison, Cree Summer, Charnele Brown, Glynn Turman, Dawnn Lewis and Sinbad.
Susan Fales, showrunner for the sitcom’s later seasons, and producer, director and five-time Emmy winner Debbie Allen will also be in attendance.
The hit series followed the academic and personal lives of students of the fictional Hillman College, an HBCU located in central Virginia.
Originally premiering as a “joke per minute” sitcom focused more on dormitory shenanigans than HBCU life, the series saw a revamp in its second season with the introduction of Allen as the show’s principal producer and director.
“Having come from Howard University. I knew what to do with the show. I had lived it and breathed it. So I knew the stories that they needed to be telling,” she said in an interview with Netflix’s “Strong Black Lead” in 2020.
“[Allen] sent the writers to go to Howard, Morehouse, Spelman, and she was like ‘Do your research like for any other show’,” Guy said in 2023 interview with The Tower. “[Allen said] ‘Go to classes, see what the differences are.”
Under her wing, the sitcom morphed into a topical home for subject matter including sexual assault, racism, AIDS, apartheid, domestic abuse and the importance of higher education.
Other notable cast members of the show included future Academy Award-winner Marisa Tomei, actress and producer Jada Pinkett Smith and veteran actress Loretta Devine (they will not be in attendance for the HBCU tour).
“A Different World” wrapped in 1993 after six seasons, four of which were spent in the top five in the Nielsen ratings. The show has continued to impact new generations of fans in syndication.
Proceeds from the HBCU tour will go towards helping to raise scholarship funds for HBCU students.
“Our mission goes beyond nostalgia,” the tour’s website states. “We’re on a quest to raise awareness and enrollment for HBCUs nationwide … to inspire a new generation to choose HBCUs as their academic homes.”
The event on Thursday is exclusively for Clark Atlanta, Morehouse and Spelman students. More details about the event will be sent after attendees register on the tour website.
