Tag: Atlanta University Center

A Different World debuts on NBC September 24. The new show is a sequel to the original, which ended in 1993. and focuses on the next generation of characters attending fictional HBCU Hillman College. Atlantans might recognize Hillman—it was shot at Clark Atlanta University.

The Atlanta University Center has shaped generations of leaders—for the nation and for their home city. Atlanta would be nothing like it is today without it.

Atlanta hip-hop would not be what it is today without the Atlanta University Center. It’s a bold statement, but one that rings true—the roster of artists, DJs, and music executives who’ve graced the AUC campuses is a veritable who’s who of the music industry, and the AUC has been instrumental in molding the fabric of Atlanta’s hip-hop culture.

Morris Brown College has made many comebacks in its nearly 140-year history. This may be the biggest one yet.

New Student Orientation at Spelman and Morehouse was a bittersweet rite of passage for the class of 2027 and their parents.

Just west of the futuristic origami that is Mercedes-Benz Stadium, some of Atlanta’s most richly historic buildings stand abandoned on a hilltop like oversize, graffiti-strewn headstones in a forgotten cemetery. One gate of the tall chain-link fence surrounding some of these Vine City properties is bent dramatically outward, as if a velociraptor escaped. But just beyond that, a deep-red billboard stands like a beacon of hope, reading: “Master Plan Development Underway . . . Details Coming Soon.”

This summer, we gathered Spelman College alumnae from across different generations to talk about how the school shaped their lives. They talked about sisterhood, scholarship, and how their college days intersected with pivotal moments in Atlanta history, from the civil rights movement to the pandemic.

A roundup of yearbook photos of famous Atlanta University Center alumni, including Martin Luther King Jr., Samuel L. Jackson. Raphael Warnock, Stacey Abrams, Tayari Jones, and more.

Whoever controls the narrative has the power. In 1900, when the renowned sociologist, author, and Atlanta University professor W.E.B. Du Bois presented his groundbreaking The Exhibition of American Negroes at the Paris Exposition, he painted a revolutionary picture of what it meant to be Black in America.

“Through these materials we see the vast impact that this tragic event in Atlanta had on generations of Atlantans, as well as the work done within Jackson’s administration” to address the murders, said Tiffany Atwater Lee, head of research services at the library’s Archives Research Center.