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From: Brownsugar956
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  • @cjar1981 its so much hidden messages on this show. Yes he is black and yes they are all educated. This was mostly written by black writers so its funny how her (Kim)strongest romances were either light skinned , white admirers or foreign. Just saying . You ever heard of the movie school daze? We either are looked at as too black or not black enough. But this episode wasnt about that but still that element always shows. SelfHate. Peace.

  • I was too young to appreciate it back then.

  • It'shard to believe that a show like this was on networkTv

  • @aatre05 to make a long story short, they were a group of people who are of spanish french african and native american decent most prevalent in new orleans mississippi and that region. The group came about and flourished not only as a result of various rapes/ affairs but also from a system called placage. ....(1/2)

  • my favorite part is the transformation

  • Supposed

  • whitley was probably spouse to be creole. It was common place for some of the gens de coleur ( free people of color) to recieve slaves along with the rest of their (usually white) fathers fortune after they died

  • @amastara11 I don't understand what creole is...

  • best ever

  • @purebloodfreedom1 please don't comment with that negative energy after watching a beautiful ceremony about my people and where they have come from. Africa as a whole is a continent of beautiful kings and queens. Nubian goddesses are from egypt and other countries as well. It's people like you who are stuck with the mindset that African Americans cant be anything they want to be. Cut the BS!!

  • @chaniedolldiva21 I'm not speaking with negative energy, im speaking the truth. Africa is a great continent and it is EXTREMELY DIVERSE. No one is saying that you cant be who you want to be, but that is like a white person saying they are african-- there is no logic. One day you can be a Nubian Princess, then Queen Jinga of Angola!(sarcasm). Stop smearing africa together because we are much more diverse than you think.

  • took a light skinned brother to significantly boost her confidence. Others want to be us but when most of us look in the mirror we see a unattractive big lip fatherless child . Love ourselves like others do. Peace

  • @BEFOREMYTIME85 didnt matter if he was light skinned or not ..he was still a brother

  • JADA :D :D :D

  • this was a fantastic performance piece!!!

  • African americans ARE NOT NUBIANS. Nubians are southern egyptian and northern sudan. THey are from west africa. African americans should try to learn about the difference bwetween africa because its much more diverse than they think.

  • @purebloodfreedom1

    You can't base the lineage of Black Americans on logistical geography. If you have read the narratives of Equiano, the letters of Wheatley and other slaves that you will know that slaves were brought from as far as East and Central Africa before they were boarded on ships on the Western Coast of Africa. Not to mention, the Europeans settled in South, East and the Arabs were apart of the slave trade too. So, it is quite possible that we are from the entire continent.

  • @aharper12 Eastern slaves were never sent west into the Americas. You can read any book on slavery in the Sudanic States and they were enslaved by black people by black people. You can also tell by the physical appearance of African Americans, that they are most likeky from the west.

  • @BigkidforReva topsy from uncle toms cabin...really a classic pickininny archetype

  • @TheSlickAndroid BEYONCE DID WHAT?????

  • @barber747....i didnt ask you what you were attracted to...so no offense but why do I care what your stance is on black women/eurocentric beauty standards? ...and thats a whole other issue in its self....just keeping it 100.

  • Lena at 3:37!!!

  • i love being black. From Mariah Carey to Alex wek. We are such a diverse race. I love it and our rich history.

  • Gina is reciting the poem "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

  • (continuing from previous commnent) not that there is anything wrong with being darker skinned (i think that dark luminous skin is quite beautiful actually) , but this is what whites deemed "better" or more attractive hence the creation of the quadroon ball

  • @amastara11

    Personally I generally am not attracted to dark skinned women (yes I am black). One exception, however, is if they have light green or hazel eyes; that ends up being a drastic contrast to the rest of their physical appearance.

  • this is by far my favorite episode of any tv show ever. .. to me the most interesting part of the mammy archetype is that as far as physical appearance, it was a blatant lie to divert peoples attention away from the obvious sexual abuse these women endured. its possible that they may have had full breasts and big butts (the ladder seems to be common with people of african decent) but real "mammys" were young, and light skinned (which whites found more sexually desirable) not huge and darker

  • I just saw Whitley on a new show. she did not age well. This is why the dark skin is blessed. I could not believe how badly she looked. Bless her heart. [that forgives everything bad i just said about her]

  • @shakaama Jasmine Guy has LUPUS, which is a disease that takes different forms and attacks the body, rapid aging and cell turnover is one of the main side effects. It has nothing to do with her complexion. No skin color is "blessed" over the other, beauty is found in ALL shades that make up the human race.

    On top of that, she was in her late 30's when she played in "A Different World". She is turning 50 next year.

  • @fotoAESTHETIC Jasmine was in her late twenties when she began her role on "A Different World". She was born around 1962 to 1964.

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  • I am the 2nd Generation from slavery. My Grand Father was owned by his father and My Great Grand was a Mammy. According to their outlines as to what she was i can honestly say she was what held the families together, be it theirs or ours. She ran the house when the wife was sick or out for what ever reason, She cared for the children after the 2nd or third week of birth and she was their house keeper and the back bone of their farm. Look at movies like Divine Secrets, Waledda was a mammy

  • What is a Mammy? who was she?

  • @BehindTheHarleyShop Mammy was (1) a term for the Black slave matriarch on a plantation or the Black house-keeper/ wetnurse to a White family. She was the caretaker and, on many occasions, the 'bed warmer"(forced sex object) to the White master. She was also (2) a stereotype for a Black woman( e.g.: large, robust, big red lips, large eyes, large behind, full chest, smiling, laughing, jolly,extreamly dark in hue). Mammy was what White's in that era considered a Nigger-Bitch . . .

  • I spend alot of my time runing away from the "Mammy" sterotype Idk if I wanna embrace it :/ excelent performace tho got me thinkin

  • KIM WAS ALWAYS THE MOST BEUTIFUL WOMAN ON THAT SHOW! WHEN RON COMES UP TO HER AT THE END; IT MAKES ME CRY! I DON´T KNOW WHY BUT IT IS A WONDERFUL MOMENT!

  • This show made me want to go to college so bad I am so happy as a black man I am so happy that I was inspired!!

  • Poor Mr Gaines! Gotta put up w/ all them women and their BS emotions!

  • One thing we black people know is how to survive when hard times hit us we learned that from our black people that live back when they were fighting for freedom.

  • @tashannam1 Real Talk! I wash we could be like that now, legally anyway!

  • Those were the days when network TV had diversity and interesting content. This is really beautiful (and introduced me to Nikki Giovanni.)

  • Kim is BEAUTIFUL. That last part, combined with Nikki Giovanni's powerful words and Lena's Sfrican dancing, it brought me to tears.

  • jada!!

  • I love my black people

  • Jada!!!!

  • flute at 2:00 was used as the Boondocks theme by Asheru innit?!!

  • What was Freddie supposed to be?

  • @bigkid4eva2009

    Freddie was portraying a "pickaninny." A "pickaninny" was the racial caricature for African-American children often depicted in television and movies, just like a "Mammy". An example of one such would be "Buckwheat" from the Little Rascals.

  • I love how this show actually tackled racism .... I don't think this episode actually ever made it into syndication, because of how it looked at racism.

  • @MyKrabi Actually, it did. It's just particular markets would hold back certain episodes. But this episode certainly aired here in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area plenty of times throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. =)

    Blessings.

  • ah.. that one got me right in the tear duct

  • I loved what Ron said to Kim at the end. That was very touching.

  • aww damn! I think my family might have owned your family ...WOW

  • aww damn! I think my family might have owned your family WOW

  • Someone needs to show this episode to Beyonce. When people do things like this, I think it is important to understand the history behind it. I know a lot of people disagree, but as African American women I'm as offended as Kim was about mammy. The sad thing is some people don't even care.

  • @brkertffny2006 you may need to watch this episode again and pay close attention... to Mr. Gaines in particular! And what does Beyonce have to do with this? Hopefully this isn't about that "Blackface" magazine spread because simply wearing dark makeup is not blackface. The use of blackface began when white actors performed for white audiences with stereotypical caricatures that were demeaning and mocking of blacks. That shoot was not demeaning the only thing it's guilty of is being insensitive!

  • @YimmyYahhh In this episode Mr. Gaines states "if you knew where many dozens came from, you wouldn't want to be laughing". By looking at the photo shoot Beyonce did, this brought me back to the total disregard white had toward black people in the past. Many blacks had to fight so our people would not have to face this issue in the future. When you see a black person willing take pictures being referred to as "blackface" during black history month, it really shows how simple some people can be.

  • @brkertffny2006 I do understand why so many people are insulted by this spread because even though the current tone of so called “blackface” may seem to be less malevolent today, similar imagery was considered to be just as insidious and hurtful recently as blackface was in the past, that is what I find offensive not the use of the makeup. Now was the dark makeup necessary? Not really. But is blackface the right term to use every time someone dons dark or black makeup? I’m afraid not.

  • @YimmyYahhh I not saying that every time dark makeup is used, that it means blackface. However when you do things that reference to blackface, I have a problem. Yes blackface started with white actors, but originated in Europe. The L'Officiel Paris magazine looks at blackface as fashion. Even tried this same shoot on a white women in the past. I guess they though by using a black women they would get away with it. Why not use a real dark skin women or different shades of women?

  • @brkertffny2006 I'm a black male,and learning about Beyonce's recent Blackface cover I now officially hate her. At first i was just annoyed with her constant presence in the music industry,but now I hate her as a person. Thanks to this new photoshoot I heard Blackface "modeling" is becoming popular. We as a people have come too far for such a racist archetype to resurface in modern times. Its bad enough we have the whole ghetto stereotype,but now this. Beyonce should be ashamed of herself.

  • Mr. Gaines is always dropping knowledge!

  • But that moment between Ron and Kim, priceless...

  • Who tied Kim's headtie? That was the only thing....

  • Gone Jada! I always love her dances on the show. Especially this one!

  • thank you for posting this!

  • That performance, especially the poem, was one of the best parts of the series.

    I also like how it's the opposite of what happened to Kim as a child. Instead of a Nubian princess being mistaken for mammy, mammy becomes the queen she truly is. When Kim and Whitley thanked each other you could tell they both helped the other get some closure.

  • @natpack1 mammy is our past she and slaves before her represents the suffering and ridicule that our ancestors went thru to get to where we are today. in other words she is a martyr. ;)

  • Love this episode!!!!!!!

  • one of my all time fav episodes. i still get tears at that performance

  • BTW does anybody know the actual episodes where Ron and Kim were dating?

  • This one is one of my favorite episodes ever. The end always gets me.

  • @njoseph20 this episode came on the other day on TvOne...and i was all over it!

  • I love how Kim recites the poem.

  • i still dont see how im suppose to embrace mammy. i ove the ending tho, after Frddie got off the stage

  • THIS WAS MY FAVORITE EPISODE!!!!

  • Lena be shaking too much

  • I love that poem "Ego Trippin"~Nikki Giovanni

  • Kim is one beautiful sista. And I'm speakin' that from the heart.

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  • @3rdbass618 YES, KIM WAS. She was always my favorite character on there. She was very pretty, intelligent, kind, and relatable.

    This was by far, my favorite episode of A Different World!

  • @3rdbass618 you know she had them big pretty teeth (in my ms patti voice)

  • I really "felt" this episode. That performance at the end......Absolutely amazing!

  • one of my fav episodes..definitely in the top 3

  • ALL i can say is WOW this was definetly one of my fav episodes...That Dance That Poem WWWWOWWWW!

  • i love this episode!!! "even my errors are correct" omg, that line is sick!

  • @aymst1

    Ain't it??? LOVE that part

  • LIKE BUDDIES, LIKE FRIENDS, LIKE HOMEBOYS?... CLASSIC....LOL

  • This was a very powerful episode..thanks for posting

  • Kim was a very pretty girl, but her hairstyles never complimented her...

  • @Machelle3200 yes! i hated that wig or whatever it was with the curls, her hair here fits her better than her other styles, she has a pretty face and the hair just seems to hide it

  • I loooooooooooove Whitley's blue dress.

  • This episode is so full of truthful messages!

  • This was my favorite episode. I'm so glad you uploaded it. Thank you!

  • Mine too!

  • what was that song that kim sung in the beginning and who wrote that poem

  • @fry12341 Someone earlier in the comments mentioned the poem but the song is "Dixie"

  • @fry12341

    Nikki Giovanni wrote the poem but idk about that song

  • OMG I LOVE THIS EPISODE...

  • I have always been a BIG! fan of the show and this was always my favorite show growing up next to the Cosby show. I have half of this episode on tape I loved all of this episode from the begining to the end they did a great! job thanks for posting it. I am a big fan of Nikki Giovanni and Paul Lawrence Dubar and to see their poems come alive was amazing.

  • Now that was an AMAZING episode!!!

  • Jay's head has to hurt after all that shakin

  • Yowzah yowzah yowzah

  • I loved this performance.....

  • one of my favorite episode

  • i hope yall understand why lena came out from under kins mammy attire, to show that tho the sterotype, showed a overweight maid, with a smile on her face, sumthing consider negative, that deep inside, we all know wut we really r, black nubian african beauties, its not wut ppl portray u ass, its wut u know u r, and tho maybe sum white ppl then couldnt understand that, as long as we do its ok, so be proud of every insult that was thrown back then, bcus u have to embrace em to heal from em

  • I thought all the women on this show were hot. The dark ones all the way to whitley. I was so happy to see so many black faces on t.v. I couldn't believe it.

    I honestly, and let's just keep this between us, get tired of seeing white people on t.v. I get it. They are a majority of the population. But good God, can a brother see Roots in February at least?

  • @shakaama

    That is hilarious!!! And so true-it's like nowadays we're regressing to the 1960's when there were hardly no black tv shows, especially not shows of substance or quality.

  • @shakaama Actually I recently heard that "white" (I dont know who that defines) people are the minority and were always the minority

  • @runinzeno88 no no and no. they are still the majority and the projections is that they would if "trends" continue, and they don't count spanish people as white, be in the minority in 2060. Even then, in this country, their numbers would dwindle down to only 40% instead of 60%. Any single other racial group compared to white numbers is currently dwarfed, in this country. They have to count all the "non-white" groups together.

  • @shakaama Thank You! and Friends had to be the worst offender,as it seems to take place in an alternate universe where there are apparently no Black people in New York. and why is it we almost never see any Fantasy or Sci Fi stuff with any Black protagonists. I'm a nerd for that sorta stuff.

  • *lol* Whitley's reaction to Freddie's make-up and hair was priceless!

  • Dunbar

  • The poem at 2:37 is "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Lawrence Dubar

  • One of the greatest episodes of a TV show ever.

  • This episode made me cry because it addressed alot of the ways I had felt about myself. And happy tears @ the end. I love this show.

  • @deekydan Im sure u are beautiful sista.....U keep your head up...respect

  • @ katrina72, thank you my sister :)

  • this is probably one of my top 3 episodes

  • A Different World is coming to TVone on Jan. 25th.

  • I think they had Freddie and Ron married and ignoring their roots at Hillman, Whitley and Dewayne divorced, and Hilliman about to be shut down because of lack of support from alumni like Ron and Freddie. I think it started out with Dewayne sitting in a bar trying to drown his sorrows at the bottom of a bottle....The idea was idiotic to me and not in the spirit of the original show.

  • @fadarrell If they created a reunion show like that it really messes up the show. Who gives them the right. I know that Debbie Allen had nothing to do with such foolishness. That is just so crazy. Dwayne and Whitley would definitely not be divorced and Freddie would not ignore Hillman. I heard of character growth, but that is just ridiculous.

  • I think the networks dropped the ball by not getting a reunion story together surrounding the election of president Obama. They could have addressed some very diverse positions out of this cast of characters. Ron was a die-hard REP so was the Col. It would've been great to hear the discussion between Freddie and Whitley. The reunion that I read about in Ebony Mag was all doom and gloom, nothing like the working through adversity and teaching aspect that the old series had.

  • This was so classic. Kim and Jada did their thing.

  • whats the poem she read?

  • Ego Trippin by Nikki Giovanni

  • touching...wordamutha

  • Mr. Gains is so wise

  • Bravo Kimberly!! for all like you keep your chin up and don't let the world tell you you ain't beautiful!!!

  • Here I stand. The 3rd Generation out of Slavery. I knew many Mammies, infact my grand was one and all of her kin and friends were as well. I knew her Joy and how proud she was to be the giving, caring and nurturing woman she was. If you needed a bed, a hot meal or a hug she was always there. I never knew somany of us felt so ashamed of looking like her, being related to her or even resembeling her. Im working on a Bachelors Degree in Construction Management and dedicate it to MY Mammies.

  • U BETTA GET THAT DEGREE!......Very proud and happy for u

  • THIS is who WE ARE.......Just BEAUTIFUL

  • U BETTA DO IT JADA!!!!!!!

  • did yall see jada (lena) gettin it lol my sista!

  • we need more shows like this

  • I can't believe Whitley called and tried to apologize to the family that one of her ancestors might have owned! lol But it was a sweet thought though.

  • Love Whitley outfit! That Royal blue dress w/ Egyptian collar is fierce!

  • YES!!!!!I love anything Egyptian and i agree with u

  • @urbanity06 yeah and the egyptian collar is a trend now

  • @urbanity06 Yes, and Kim was fucking HOT hands down! Hell, even Freddie, and we all knew the Great Jada was, too!

  • AMAZING I love it!

  • Jada been on FIRE...GET IT GIRL!!!

    --Skiz

  • I love Kim reciting Nikki Giovanni !!!so Perfect !!thnx 4 posting !!

  • Kim was my role model when i was younger and this episode reminds me why...shes so beautiful inside and out...Shes gorgeous!!: )

  • I appreciated Freddie and Whitely the showed diversity of economic class and integration.

  • WOW! This was a beautiful episode. I loved it!!!!

  • this ep brought tears to my eyes. Every black woman who was the only black girl in her neighborhood growing should watch A Different World. Sometimes this show will address things i thought only i felt... it's funny how sometimes we can stereotype ourselves for so long without realizing it, only because we weren't exposed to enough... what, diversity? culture? I'm not sure what i'm trying to say...

  • I cried 2 !! I remember this episode!! I wish we had more stuff like this around today,,,definitely one of the best shows that were ever on TV ...this episode was my favorite because of this issue at its core and realistically adressing this caste system type mentality created from slavery and the long term effects of the Afrikan Diaspora.

  • I'm a white guy and it brings tears to my eyes everytime I see it.

  • My FAVORITE episode...Thanks a million!!

  • YAY for kim being a mammy

  • "I am so hip, even my errors are correct, I mean I could fly like a bird in the sky"

    When Kim said that I felt shivers go up and down my spine. She's so beautiful sometimes when I look at her, all I can do is smile, lol .

  • OMG!!!! I have been looking for the episode for EVER. THANK YOU FOR POSTING IT

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  • Freddie in that pickaninny costume is classic!

  • This is my favorite episode too.

  • Pretty damn thorough. Too bad there's nothing like this on television anymore.

  • I know. The shows like The Cosby Show, A Different World and even The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air had it all. I guess subjects like racism, gun violence, alcohol and drug abuse are all taboo now. Oh, the fate of our society.

  • my dark skinned essence of beauty, you were fearfully and wonderfully, beautifully, and amazingly made. let no man, male or female, tell you who you are for you are God's child and you are you.  i love you all and God bless

  • that was Beautiful, midnightclever, thank you for putting beautiful words in the universe.

  • Amen to that!

  • One of the things that I always liked about Kim was that gorgeous, brite, wide smile...she was very full of charm and brightness, I think.

  • Trully beautiful episode.

  • my favorite episode!!!

  • This is one of my favorite tv shows ...thanx so much!

  • My favorite ADW episode. Regal!

  • Best DW ESPISODE ever thanks for posting ;-) ;-)

  • Egotrippin is one of my FAVORITE poems...

  • Amen!!!