What 'A Different World' Taught America

A Different World was an amazing, groundbreaking show, which is probably why we are so hard on the people who are allegedly producing shows for the African-American viewing audience now.  

It set the bar high for the types of shows aimed at our community such as the Mara Brock-Akil produced Living Single, which will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its first broadcast on August 29, 2013, the Kelsey Grammer-Akil produced Girlfriends and its spinoff The Game.. 

And yes, when it's time for Living Single's 20th anniversary, I'll have a trivia quiz waiting on you.  You've been warned. 

Sadly some people producing shows for the African-American community have failed to meet that high standard and excel in producing 21st century coonery and buffoonery.

So I had to shine a TransGriot spotlight on a post from the other half of my fave power couple, Danielle Moodie-Mills.   She is also is the creative force behind the threeLOL blog  and wrote a post entitled "Black Excellence and Other Lessons A Different World Taught America'

She was paying attention during our blogger's roundtable at OUT on the Hill when I mentioned the upcoming  'A Different World' Quiz I created.

So what did A Different World teach America?    Plenty.  In addition to giving America a realistic slice of life in terms of our culture and the Black college experience circa late 80's-early 90's, they learned about womanism, South African divestiture, HIV/AIDS, date rape, the LA riots from our perspective, the Gulf War, and got introduced to our past, present and future actors and actresses.  

America also got to see that young African Americans did the same things anyone else did when they went to college.   They studied hard, discussed the issues of the day, learned things about themselves and grew as young adults, fell in love, and prepared to enter that different world beyond college life.

And that's probably why this show is so beloved and important to African-Americans 25 years later and we're hoping that Debbie Allen is successful in reviving it for a new generation.