Spelman College - Student Life

"A Different World"

According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, when Debbie Allen became the director-producer of Bill Cosby's NBCtelevision show, A Different World (which ran for six seasons and dealt with the life of students at the fictional historically Black college, Hillman College) she drew from her college experiences in an effort to accurately reflect in the show the social and political life on black campuses. Allen, "a graduate of historically black Howard University, instituted a yearly spring trip to Atlanta where series writers visited two of the nation's leading black colleges, Morehouse and Spelman. During these visits, ideas for several of the episodes emerged from meetings with students and faculty."

"The Oprah Winfrey Show"

Oprah Winfrey included a panel of seven women from Spelman College via satellite on her Hip Hop Town Hall show. They had previously protested a scheduled performance by rapper Nelly at their school. At the time, students said they were upset at how the women were portrayed in his 2003 video "Tip Drill". Special guests on-stage included Russell Simmons, conscientious rapperCommon, Dr. Benjamin Chavis of Simmon's Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, and Kevin Liles, executive vice president at Warner Music. Seated in the audience were Stanley Crouch of the New York Daily News and Bruce S. Gordon of CBS, former NAACP head.

ATL

In the movie ATL Lauren London's character, New New/Erin, wanted to attend Spelman College instead of her father's choice, Brinton. Later in the end of the movie it shows her attending Spelman with her dad helping her move into her dorm.