10 Reasons Why Every Black College Student Should Watch and Learn From ‘A Different World’

by Melanie McCoy The Cosby Show spin-off sitcom A Different World received a major upgrade after its first season and became one of the most influential Black sitcoms of all time, especially for Black college students. Here are at least 10 reasons why every Black college student needs to watch A Different World. Black Colleges Showing Love In the third season and 12th episode of A Different World "Here's to Old Friends," Dwayne Wayne considers leaving Hillman, an historically Black college and university, to attend a predominantly white institution after hearing his friend state because everyone at Hillman is Black and equal that it provides a "false sense of reality." "When you were applying to colleges was Hillman your first choice?" Dwayne asks Whitley Gilbert. Whitley responds stating, "Of course! I was accepted at Georgetown and when I turned them down my guidance counselor threw a hissy fit." Her guidance counselor believed that by Whitley attending an HBCU that she was limiting herself, but Whitley explains that attending an HBCU shows Black college students how to love themselves because it also loves them in return. Black Colleges Tailor Education to Black People In season 5, episode 2 "The Dwayne Mutiny," Dwayne as a Ph.D. student at Hillman encounters issues as a professor of math when his students complain that he requires too much. Although, he decides to go slightly easier on the students, he explains that his expectations will be even higher for them because they are Black. "Regardless of your degree, I am telling you they will think you know less than you do because you're Black. It's not enough for you to be equal," states Dwayne to his class. "You have to be better -- we have to be better, and it's my job to see that you and we are." Colorism In season 5, episode 11 "Mammy Dearest," Kim Reese feels uncomfortable with her best friend Whitley's program idea at their dorm to celebrate the accomplishments as well as highlight the stereotypes of Black women. Whitley wants to highlight the Black stereotypical archetypal character of "Mammy," and Kim becomes infuriated. The Pit owner, Mr. Gaines, an older, wise man and beloved mentor of Kim's, understands what her issue is. Kim was teased because of her darker skin and once as a child entering a Halloween costume contest as a Nubian princess won and the school recognized her as Aunt Jemima. Mr. Gaines affirmed how beautiful she is, and Kim, participating in Whitley's show, transforms from a "Mammy" to an African queen. Activism, Social Justice and Student Protest A Different World was no stranger to placing issues at the forefront that plague not just African-Americans but Black people of the diaspora. Freddie Brooks, a biracial and Black-identified conscious activist and student, led various protests. At times there were comedic elements, but episodes involving social justice took serious turns. In the episode "A World Alike" Freddie and other students organized against corporations that were involved in the funding of apartheid in South Africa. The students found out that one of the corporations offers a scholarship at Hillman. Students in the name of Pan-Africanism demanded that Hillman divest from the corporation, but because some of the students needed the scholarship, there was much to consider. Sexual Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence A Different World was known for shedding light on uncomfortable and taboo topics, but showed viewers just how important it was to acknowledge and discuss them. In the episode "No Means No" Dwayne discovers that Garth, his baseball teammate, is a rapist. After finding out that his friend Freddie has taken a liking to Garth and that he intends to make her his next victim, Dwayne asks his coach and graduate student, Walter Oakes, of the signs when a man should stop pressuring a woman for sex. In the episode "Love Taps" in the fifth season of A Different World, student Lena James becomes aware that her friend, Gina Deveaux, has been dating a popular student and rapper, Dion, who has been hitting her. Gina decides to press charges against him and a season later he comes back from jail to see her in the hopes that she will forgive him and continue their relationship. Intentional Fashion From Dwayne's round flip-up glasses to Freddie's bohemian African-centered attire, A Different World made viewers envy the style of the show's characters. The characters set style trends, and at times they made very bold pro-Black statements. Some of the T-shirts and sweatshirts supported Black Greek organizations, Pan-Africanism and HBCUs. A Hillman dance major wore a shirt that stated "Blacker the College Sweeter the Knowledge." Ron Johnson also wore numerous shirts supporting HBCUs, including one that states "Support Black Colleges." A fan favorite is the "Martin Malcolm Mandela Me It's My Heritage!" sweatshirt also worn by Ron. In addition to Denise Huxtable, Lena, a small and feisty, pro-Black student, introduced her bold style in the fifth season as a newer character. You Are Never Too Old to Go Back to College Jaleesa Vinson (who later becomes Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor), a divorced 26-year-old woman, attends Hillman College in A Different World's first season. In season 4, Jaleesa's sister comes to visit and decides that as a wife and mother at 32 that she would like to go back to college. Billy Dee Williams also guest stars as an older former baseball star who considers attending Hillman. Jaleesa had worries in the beginning that she would be judged by her younger peers, but later climbed up the corporate ladder. With concerns of never being able to balance a career and start a family, she eventually remarries and becomes a mother. Let's Talk About Sex The issue of sex was no stranger to A Different World. A Different World explored the good, bad and ugly truths about sex and sometimes its possible consequences. A Different World found creative ways of discussing it through the nuances of the characters. By season 4, Hillman students gather together to make a 1990 video time capsule for a class. As controversial as it was during this time in the early 1990s, the students decide to put a condom in the capsule. In the video, the students ask Ron what he was contributing and he responds by saying a "condom," which some of the students told him was not funny. "No it's not. Neither is AIDS or teenage pregnancy or anything else a condom is to help prevent," Ron says. "My message is responsibility, Freddie. You want to preserve the planet? I want to protect it." Racism and Anti-Black Sentiment A Different World, in a very unapologetic fashion, addressed racism. In season 5, episode 14 "The Cat's in the Cradle," Ron has an altercation with white college students at a football game over a bet. After the white students lose the bet, they hold Ron down and attempt to spray paint "N*GGER" on his car. His best friend, Dwayne, walks up and fights them and as a result they all go to jail. A highlight of the episode is when one of the white students asks the other "Who is he?" and the other white student replies "He's nobody." Dwayne, angered by how racist they were, responds, "I am an educated Black man. Your worst nightmare." In the final season, with a two-part season opener titled "Honeymoon in L.A.," Dwayne and Whitley spend their honeymoon in L.A. during the Rodney King case verdict. In the episode, Dwayne is racially profiled and arrested by police, and Whitley encounters white looters unlike what the media presented. These episodes are eerily relevant today as A Different World gave the perspectives of many different Black people on "rioting." Black Love When A Different World first began in 1987 it lacked quite a few things aside from the feeling of it actually being an HBCU. In the words of Hillman student Gina, "Black love is so beautiful," and A Different World proved that to its viewers in more ways than one. Although, Denise was a favorite who embodied the definition of what it means to be a "carefree Black girl," it was hard to envision Dwayne and Denise together. Ironically, viewers hardly could envision Dwayne and Whitley together. Whitley, a prissy and materialistic Southern belle, came from a well-off bourgeois family, and Dwayne was a goofy mathematical genius from Brooklyn. Time proved to be a healer because they both grew and matured as characters who eventually found the power of Black love in one another. Just as they fell in love, the viewers fell in love with them as a couple.

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