Historically Black colleges and universities have influenced American culture far beyond the classroom. Their campuses, marching bands, traditions, fraternities, sororities and alumni have helped shape some of the most memorable moments in Black television and film.
Sometimes a real HBCU appears under its own name. In other productions, an existing campus is transformed into a fictional institution such as Hillman College, Atlanta A&T or Truth University.
From School Daze and Drumline to All American: Homecoming and the upcoming return of A Different World, these projects have introduced generations of viewers to HBCU life.
Here are some of the most important HBCU campuses, movies and television shows to appear on screen.
A Different World — Clark Atlanta University and Spelman College
When A Different World premiered in 1987, it gave national television audiences something they rarely saw: young Black students studying, dating, organizing, building careers and discovering themselves at a historically Black college.
The series was set at Hillman College, a fictional HBCU in Virginia. However, exterior images of Clark Atlanta University and Spelman College helped represent Hillman on screen. After the first season, Howard University alumna Debbie Allen took a larger creative role and worked to make the portrayal of HBCU life more authentic. Writers were encouraged to visit real campuses and learn directly from Black college students.
The show addressed subjects including apartheid, racism, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, consent, class differences and police brutality. More importantly, it showed that Black students did not have one single personality, background or ambition.
Hillman returns in 2026
Nearly four decades after the original premiere, Netflix is bringing viewers back to Hillman.
The new A Different World series will premiere on September 24, 2026, with a 10-episode first season. It follows Deborah Wayne, the daughter of Whitley Gilbert and Dwayne Wayne, as she begins her freshman year at Hillman and tries to establish an identity outside her parents’ legacy.
Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Darryl M. Bell, Cree Summer, Karen Malina White and Ajai Sanders are among the original cast members returning. Debbie Allen is also returning as a director and executive producer. Production wrapped in Atlanta in 2026.
The revival shows that the cultural importance of Hillman—and the demand for authentic HBCU stories—has never disappeared.
School Daze — Morris Brown College
Spike Lee’s 1988 film School Daze remains one of the boldest portrayals of Black college life ever made.
The film follows students at the fictional Mission College and explores colorism, class, political activism, social status and tensions surrounding Black Greek-letter organizations.
Early portions of the film were shot around Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University. After concerns arose about how the schools might be portrayed, much of the remaining production moved to Morris Brown College.
Although the story was fictional, its conversations felt familiar to many HBCU students. Decades later, scenes involving step shows, campus politics and fraternity and sorority culture continue to be debated and shared online.
Drumline — Morris Brown, Clark Atlanta, Grambling State and Bethune-Cookman
Released in 2002, Drumline introduced millions of viewers to the power and precision of HBCU marching bands.
The film follows Devon Miles, played by Nick Cannon, as he joins the band at the fictional Atlanta A&T University. While Atlanta A&T did not exist, the movie featured real HBCU locations and musicians.
Morris Brown College and Clark Atlanta University appeared in the production, while bands connected to Grambling State University and Bethune-Cookman University also helped bring the competition scenes to life.
The movie presented an HBCU marching band as more than halftime entertainment. Band members were shown as disciplined musicians, athletes, performers and representatives of their institutions.
For many viewers who had never attended a Black college football game, Drumline was their first look at the intensity of an HBCU band battle.
Stomp the Yard — Morris Brown, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta
Stomp the Yard arrived in theaters in 2007 and focused on stepping, competition and Black Greek-letter culture.
The story takes place at the fictional Truth University, but several Atlanta HBCUs helped create its visual identity. Morris Brown College, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University were used as filming locations.
The movie was not a documentary about Divine Nine life, and its fictional fraternities should not be treated as direct representations of real organizations. Still, it helped bring the art of stepping and the visual traditions of Black Greek-letter organizations to a wider mainstream audience.
The Great Debaters — The story of Wiley College
Unlike many HBCU films, The Great Debaters was inspired by the history of a real institution and its students.
Directed by and starring Denzel Washington, the 2007 film tells the story of the Wiley College debate team coached by professor and poet Melvin B. Tolson during the 1930s.
The students competed while living under Jim Crow segregation and facing institutions that often refused to treat them as equals. Their success demonstrated the academic excellence, discipline and intellectual tradition already present at Black colleges long before mainstream America acknowledged it.
Although much of the movie was filmed outside Wiley’s campus, the school and its debate legacy form the heart of the story.
Girls Trip — Florida A&M University
Most of Girls Trip takes place during the Essence Festival in New Orleans, but Florida A&M University plays an important role in the characters’ history.
The four women at the center of the film originally became friends while attending FAMU. Early images show them celebrating graduation in caps, gowns and orange-and-green stoles.
The connection was intentional. Producer Will Packer is a FAMU alumnus and has repeatedly incorporated his pride in the university into his work.
The scene is brief, but meaningful. It presents an HBCU as the place where four educated Black women first developed the friendship that continued to shape their adult lives.
College Hill — Southern, Langston, Virginia State and more
Before reality television became dominated by influencers and celebrity households, BET’s College Hill followed students attending historically Black colleges.
The original series began in 2004 and featured students connected to institutions including Southern University, Langston University, Virginia State University and the University of the Virgin Islands. It became the first reality series built specifically around HBCU student life.
The program attracted criticism for placing more attention on relationships, arguments and partying than academics. However, it also gave viewers an unscripted look at HBCU campuses and introduced some young viewers to schools they had never considered attending.
The franchise was later revived as College Hill: Celebrity Edition, bringing public figures onto HBCU campuses to complete courses and work toward earning college credit.
The Quad — Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College
BET’s drama The Quad premiered in 2017 and was set at the fictional Georgia A&M University.
Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College helped provide the real Atlanta backdrop for the series. The story followed university president Dr. Eva Fletcher, played by Anika Noni Rose, alongside students, administrators, athletes and members of the marching band.
Unlike many college dramas that focus almost entirely on students, The Quad also explored the pressures facing HBCU leadership. Financial survival, alumni expectations, campus politics and institutional reputation were central parts of the story.
The series ran for two seasons.
All American: Homecoming — A modern fictional HBCU
Premiering in 2022, All American: Homecoming brought a fictional HBCU back to weekly television.
The series followed tennis player Simone Hicks as she moved to Atlanta to attend Bringston University. The show also focused on baseball, journalism, activism, friendships, relationships and the pressures placed on Black student-athletes.
The CW described Bringston as a place where “Black Excellence is a way of life.” The series used the fictional campus to discuss identity, mental health, campus funding, athletic ambition and threats faced by HBCUs.
Its third and final season premiered in 2024. Although Bringston was not a real school, the show provided one of the most substantial recent portrayals of the modern HBCU experience on scripted television.
Train Ride — Cheyney University
The independent 2005 film Train Ride used Cheyney University as its primary campus location.
The drama, directed by Fisk University graduate Rel Dowdell, addresses sexual assault and its aftermath within a college community. Its cast included Wood Harris, MC Lyte and Esther Rolle.
Cheyney’s appearance carried particular historical weight because it is widely recognized as the oldest HBCU in the United States.
Tell Them We Are Rising — The wider HBCU story
The 2017 documentary Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities moved beyond one campus or fictional story.
Directed by Stanley Nelson and Marco Williams, the documentary examines the history of HBCUs and their influence on education, civil rights, political leadership and Black identity. It was presented nationally through PBS’s Independent Lens.
The film helps explain why HBCUs matter beyond entertainment. These institutions have educated generations of teachers, doctors, lawyers, artists, scientists, activists and political leaders, often while operating with fewer resources than predominantly white institutions.
Why HBCU representation on screen matters
Seeing an HBCU in a film or television show can be a student’s first introduction to Black college culture.
The best portrayals show that the HBCU experience is not limited to football games, marching bands, homecoming and Greek life. Those traditions matter, but HBCUs are also places of scholarship, professional development, political debate, artistic experimentation and lifelong community.
Projects such as A Different World, School Daze, Drumline and All American: Homecoming succeeded because they made Black students central to their own stories.
They allowed viewers to see Black young adults as complicated people: ambitious, funny, imperfect, intelligent, creative and still learning who they wanted to become.
With A Different World returning in September 2026, a new generation is about to experience Hillman College for the first time. The campus may be fictional, but the pride, purpose and culture behind it come from more than a century of real HBCU history.
