In mid-March of 2020, numerous colleges across the nation transitioned to online learning almost overnight, shutting down public access to institutions indefinitely.
Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus and the abundance of cases, professors’ and students’ routines changed in the classroom and at home.
Even as colleges and universities expanded in-person instruction this spring, undergraduate enrollment continued to decline.
According to current preliminary data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, enrollment across all institution types fell by 2.9 percent this term compared with last spring. These early numbers reveal similar declines to fall of 2020 when enrollment fell by 3.3 percent consecutively overall.
In fall of 2019, GHC suffered a slight -1.7 percent decrease in enrollment but reported record graduation numbers and a new economic impact of over $181 million.
Fast-forward to fall of 2020; there was a -7.9 percent drop with 5,680 students enrolled compared to the previous year with 6,168 students enrolled, according to the USG Fall 2020 Semester Enrollment Report.
During this same time, undergraduate enrollment declined for all racial and ethnic categories nationally, according to the clearinghouse data. In the case of GHC, minority enrollment slightly dropped in all types, while the white majority racial group increased from 3,431 students in spring of 2020 to 3,520 students enrolled in fall of 2020.
Division of Enrollment
To aid in this decline, GHC has recently added a Division of Enrollment to focus on new students. Under this new division, strategies are being adjusted to address issues such as finan- cial aid, class offerings, degree requirements and more.
“By merging the areas under one umbrella devoted to student success and focused on the goals that our students have for completing a college degree, GHC will better serve our students from start to finish,” said President Don Green.

In addition to this new division, Jennifer Hicks will take on the role of executive director of enrollment.
“The goal with the Enrollment Management Division is to bring together units across the institu- tion that have a major impact on enrollment,” said Hicks.
This includes enrollment by recruiting respective students and assisting them through advising and registering for classes. The departments that fall under this umbrella include marketing, admissions, recruiting, orientation, veteran affairs and the academic advising team to ensure new students are admitted and on the right track.
The official announcement of this division stated that the financial aid and the business office will also join forces to better address the frequent financial questions asked by students and their families.
Business & Financial Aid
Because of the pandemic, many people lost their jobs or have been uprooted from their homes unexpectedly. Some may see this as a prominent factor in the enrollment decline. However, the Division of Enrollment will not include information concerning financial options.
“Financial aid is actually not going to fall under the enrollment management umbrella. The financial aid office has actually shifted to our business office,” said Hicks.
Currently, the Nelnet payment plans, other payment deadlines and student accounts are handled on one side of the business office. Financial aid will be on the other side.
“I think financial aid is a concern for our students just in the sense that it’s a scary process. Filling out the FAFSA can sometimes be overwhelming, but I am confident that our business office team and our financial aid team can begin to work together to address some of those issues,” said Hicks.
The enrollment division does coordinate with the financial aid department. They have shared goals when it comes to new students enrolling.
USG Freezes Tuition Rates
In April 2020, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) voted to approve a recommendation of no tuition increase for the 2020-2021 academic year.
Students paid the same tuition rates at all 26 USG institutions for the 2020-2021 academic year as they did for the previous 2019-2020 academic year.
This same freeze in tuition rates has been approved by the Board of Regents of the USG for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Customer Service Changes
Maggie Jackson works alongside Hicks to bridge the gap between the departments. In her role as a student enrollment supervisor, Jackson will oversee the customer representatives at each campus.
There are one or two customer service representatives at each campus. Before now, they have reported to the campus manager or dean at their respective site.
“There’s been a few inconsistencies with the way that [customer service representatives] receive communication trickling down to them. This way, we can group everyone together as one great team. We can get consistent communication out to everyone so that they’re all on the same page,” said Jackson.
Jackson will develop training modules for the customer service representatives to maintain effective communication across all sites. The customer service representatives will know what they need and will have a specific person to report to. Customer service representatives will be cross trained in all departments, so that all student inquiries may be addressed efficiently.
Jackson said, “They could get a question about anything, so that’s where the training modules come in.”

It’s been a while since I couldn’t predict the ending to a thriller series. Most thrillers are whodunit cases, like the murder mystery “Knives Out,” and others. But Netflix’s newest thriller series “Behind Her Eyes,” threw me for a loop.

Director, Erik Richter Strand, and writers, Angela LaManna and Steve Lightfoot, start the series by pulling the audience into an intense story of temptation that ends terribly.

As I watched the first episode, I knew there would be a messy love triangle like in “Scandal.” It was Olivia Pope, Fitz and Mellie’s affair all over again. I wasn’t mad at it, though, because I am drawn to messy situationships like anybody else. And we get so much more than that.

In the first few episodes, “Behind Her Eyes,” is an intriguing thriller about jaded people trying to make their lives more satisfying by being more adventurous and often sexier. Simona Brown plays Louise, a lonely young single mom desperate for ventures of her own. Louise finds herself attracted to her handsome boss, David, played by Tom Bateman and ultimately befriends his mysterious wife, Adele, played by Eve Hewson.

Suddenly, it goes from a tense thriller into a bizarre and utterly weird fantasy. After Louise and Adele bond over their night terrors, Adele secretly coaches her new friend to control her dreams and, eventually, practice astral projection. We find out in sporadic flashbacks that Adele has practiced the art of floating out of her body to become a shapeless blur, which she does to spy on people to keep tabs and collect insurance.

She even taught her ways to Rob, who is played by Robert Aramayo, an addict she met in the facility she stayed in, who quickly falls in love with Adele, or so we think. In the present day, Adele seems to be doing the same with Louise.

That was a lot, so I won’t keep you in suspense any longer about the wild finale of “Behind Her Eyes,” which surprisingly gave me “Get Out,” vibes minus the racial undertones.

When Louise turns on Adele and tries to secure David for herself, Adele decides to finish her off. Adele sets her house on fire and then injects herself with a large amount of heroin. Louise, still a nice enough person to not want Adele dead, races to the house, astral projecting herself inside to save her when she can’t get inside. At this moment, Adele astral projects herself out to Louise’s sleeping body and possesses it, leaving Louise’s consciousness to get sucked into Adele’s drug-filled body for good.

But wait! That’s not all. Adele wasn’t even Adele to begin with. Adele supposedly taught Rob how to astral project and introduced him to David; then Rob seemingly falls in love with David. So, Rob stole her body like he’s now stolen Louise’s, just in time for him to live in holy matrimony with David forever.

This revelation does not get a lot of screentime. It lasted a few minutes before the final credits rolled, leaving me distraught.

Let me get this straight. David stole somebody’s man not once, but twice? My head was definitely spinning out of control after this big reveal. Plus, it’s impossible not to acknowledge the core of a story where an apparently evil, gay, white man takes over the bodies of two women, one of whom is black, to live out his fantasies.

Did Rob always want to be a woman, or was it just the attraction to David that made him switch sides? Why is his interpretation of a woman an ice queen version of the once vibrant girl, full of life?

Does the showrunner fully understand how bad it is for him to take over Louise’s body in particular? The show never acknowledges that she is black, and doesn’t include any other black characters beyond her immediate family, leaving it hollow when it comes to representation. I can only hope the writers are educated on the ongoing controversies surrounding the cosplay of black women by certain white gay males.

Is the finale — where we see a composed Louise turning to her worried son in the backseat of her car with a grin — an homage to Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” and “Us,” or straight-up appropriation?

None of these questions have any definite answers, because addressing these issues reveal implications. Furthermore, bringing attention to these issues would cause the show to lose some of its shock value, which is the only thing that saves it.

I sat with this ending frozen for about 20 minutes, trying to figure out if I was offended or not. The more I think about it, the more offensive it becomes. But I always come back to my initial reaction that “Behind Her Eyes,” is just too absurd to take even half as seriously as the show takes itself.

As part of the 2021 Spring Entrepreneur Speaker Series, GHC welcomed actor and singer, Jason Weaver, for a special Zoom session to sit down with GHC students. It was held on Feb. 17 and moderated by Shanika Turner, assistant professor of business administration. In this session, Weaver discusses entrepreneurship, his longtime career in the film industry and how important the business of entertainment can be.

Weaver is the singing voice behind Young Simba in Disney’s original “The Lion King.” At the time, the young teen was offered a flat $2 million for his work on the 1994 animation. He revealed last year in an interview with VladTV that his mother and agent helped him with this decision. It worked out in the long run because he ultimately gained royalties for his musical contribution to the film.

During the ESS event I was afforded the opportunity to ask Weaver a few questions. Read below for a Q&A with Weaver.

Q: How important is it for people breaking into the entertainment industry to understand the business side of things?

A: “It’s very important, whether in entertainment or anything else. You got to have a clear understanding as far as what you’re getting involved in, what’s going to be required of you, and what you should expect on the backend through your hard work.”

Weaver said his mother told him to always ask yourself, “If they’re willing to give you that right now [$2 million] so easily, what do you think that this could possibly generate years from now?”

Q: Any advice on how people should approach negotiations and fight for their worth?

A: “Just respectfully ask, because that’s what holds people back. They’re afraid if they ask, that’s going to retract the offer. Nah, they gave you the offer because they want to work with you anyhow, so the ball is in your court.”

Weaver has had much success in the entertainment industry. He was cast to play a young Michael Jackson in the biopic “The Jacksons: An American Dream,” alongside Angela Bassett. He played a role in “Drumline,” opposite Nick Cannon and the cult classic “ATL,” starring T.I. and Lauren London.

Q: The filming of “ATL 2” was put on hold after the tragic passing of Lauren London’s partner, Nipsey Hussle. Can you give us an update on the status of that film and when you’ll start shooting again?

A: “To be honest with you, I really don’t know. I think some different drafts of the script have been passed back and forth between the producers and the studio. But nothing is set in stone yet as far as when a start date will happen. I’m glad you mentioned Lauren. We all love each other and respect each other, and Lauren is like a sister to me. It’s something to go through, with what she went through with her partner Nipsey being murdered. There’s kids and family involved that she has to raise, and she’s a single woman doing that. Everything will come together when it’s supposed to. When Lauren’s ready, she will be ready, and then we [the cast] will be ready to participate in it.”

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Watch the full conversation here: 2021 Entrepreneur Speaker Series (Spring), Jason Weaver!

Netflix released Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on December 18, 2020. The movie is an adaptation of an August Wilson play from 1982, and the Netflix version is as relevant today as the play was almost forty years ago. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set in 1920s Chicago and mainly deals with themes of Black art and culture, racial tensions, and power dynamics.

A decade-long deep dive inspired Wilson into the blues.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1945 to a white father and African American mother, Wilson developed a passion for literature at an early age. He dropped out of high school and briefly served in the U.S. Army before returning to his native city at age 20.

He struggled at the beginning of his writing career, so he supported himself through typical jobs. While also spending his free time in local bars and restaurants, observing the daily struggles, joys, and lives of the Black neighbors. Those lives would soon become the focus of his life’s work.

Already heavily influenced by Black revolutionary activists and the works of Black writers like Amiri Baraka and James Baldwin, Wilson dove into the history of the blues, exhausting records by artists like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey.

Little is known of Rainey’s early years

Born Gertrude Pridgett, Rainey claimed she was born in Georgia in 1886, although recent research suggests she may have been born four years earlier in Alabama. She was the second born of five children and, by her early teens, had taken to the stage. Rainey began performing initially as a vaudeville artist and singer on the tent show circuit. After her marriage to singer William “Pa” Rainey in 1904, the couple became a duo known as Ma and Pa Rainey, although they would later divorce.

Rainey’s early musical influences were the popular vaudeville, minstrel, and cabaret music of the era. Still, during her early touring days, she was exposed to a new form of music, soon to be known as the blues. She quickly became one of the genre’s earliest and most influential artists and influenced a generation of blues singers, including the legendary Bessie Smith, who Rainey mentored.

She popularized the deep, brassy voice and “moaning” singing style. Rainey’s bold, sometimes raunchy lyrics often explored her bisexuality and attraction to women, which was the subject of many of her songs. She entertained audiences with her stage presence by wearing flashy clothes, wigs, jewelry and a row of gold-capped teeth. Her energetic singing and dancing style sparked a short-lived dance craze called the “Black Bottom,” which was named after one of her songs, and later used as the title of Wilson’s play.

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is set in Chicago.

The play is set inside a recording studio on the South Side of Chicago, where Rainey lived in the early 1920s. She was famously touring the country and performing with musicians like King Oliver and a young Armstrong.

In 1923, she signed a contract with Paramount Records and became one of the first musical artists to record. Unfortunately, during those times, black musicians’ commercial and popular success usually failed to bring them financial security.

Tour promoters would regularly avoid compensating black performers fairly. In the early years of the recording industry, many Black stars signed away future royalties of their recordings and ownership of their songs to white record companies and producers. This form of exploitation and cultural theft plagued Black artists for decades to come.

The cultural theft phenomenon is explored through the character Levee, who the late Chadwick Boseman plays. While the famous Blues singer at the center of the Netflix movie is real, the story itself is fictional, including the other characters, like Levee. The plot is broadly based on a true story: the history of white men exploiting Black musicians.

Wilson examines the racial, economic, and cultural struggles of the period in his play.

At the heart of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is Rainey’s determination to stay true to her roots in the face of criticism of her personality. Because she is independent and authoritative, her white producer and manager perceive her negatively. Her sharp business sense and determination to avoid financial traps boxes her into being labeled a diva.

To her label and manager, she is just a way to make money. As she states, “They don’t care nothing about me. All they want is my voice.”

The success of Rainey and other traditional, “country” blues performers did little to protect them from the pressure to record music with a broader commercial appeal, and this clash is depicted in the movie. Bandmate Levee, desperately longing for respect and recognition in an era of racial oppression, considers turning away from music born of and steeped in an affirmation of Black life and the struggle for Black self-determination.

Rainey’s career was not long-lasting.

As the play depicts, musical tastes were indeed changing. Despite recording more than 100 songs in five years in the late 1920s, Rainey’s career declined as jazz, and other popular music forms took center stage. The economic downturn of the Great Depression led to a decline in touring opportunities. Rainey effectively retired in 1935, returning home to Georgia, where she managed local theaters until her death in 1939.

Because many of her Paramount recordings were of inferior audio quality, her music slipped into obscurity for decades before they were reissued in the 1960s. Her catalog’s resurgence helped Rainey reclaim her role as one of the most important and influential blues musicians. She was eventually inducted into both the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Netflix released Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on December 18, 2020. The movie is an adaptation of an August Wilson play from 1982, and the Netflix version is as relevant today as the play was almost forty years ago. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set in 1920s Chicago and mainly deals with themes of Black art and culture, racial tensions, and power dynamics.

A decade-long deep dive inspired Wilson into the blues.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1945 to a white father and African American mother, Wilson developed a passion for literature at an early age. He dropped out of high school and briefly served in the U.S. Army before returning to his native city at age 20.

He struggled at the beginning of his writing career, so he supported himself through typical jobs. While also spending his free time in local bars and restaurants, observing the daily struggles, joys, and lives of the Black neighbors. Those lives would soon become the focus of his life’s work.

Already heavily influenced by Black revolutionary activists and the works of Black writers like Amiri Baraka and James Baldwin, Wilson dove into the history of the blues, exhausting records by artists like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey.

Little is known of Rainey’s early years

Born Gertrude Pridgett, Rainey claimed she was born in Georgia in 1886, although recent research suggests she may have been born four years earlier in Alabama. She was the second born of five children and, by her early teens, had taken to the stage. Rainey began performing initially as a vaudeville artist and singer on the tent show circuit. After her marriage to singer William “Pa” Rainey in 1904, the couple became a duo known as Ma and Pa Rainey, although they would later divorce.

Rainey’s early musical influences were the popular vaudeville, minstrel, and cabaret music of the era. Still, during her early touring days, she was exposed to a new form of music, soon to be known as the blues. She quickly became one of the genre’s earliest and most influential artists and influenced a generation of blues singers, including the legendary Bessie Smith, who Rainey mentored.

She popularized the deep, brassy voice and “moaning” singing style. Rainey’s bold, sometimes raunchy lyrics often explored her bisexuality and attraction to women, which was the subject of many of her songs. She entertained audiences with her stage presence by wearing flashy clothes, wigs, jewelry and a row of gold-capped teeth. Her energetic singing and dancing style sparked a short-lived dance craze called the “Black Bottom,” which was named after one of her songs, and later used as the title of Wilson’s play.

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is set in Chicago.

The play is set inside a recording studio on the South Side of Chicago, where Rainey lived in the early 1920s. She was famously touring the country and performing with musicians like King Oliver and a young Armstrong.

In 1923, she signed a contract with Paramount Records and became one of the first musical artists to record. Unfortunately, during those times, black musicians’ commercial and popular success usually failed to bring them financial security.

Tour promoters would regularly avoid compensating black performers fairly. In the early years of the recording industry, many Black stars signed away future royalties of their recordings and ownership of their songs to white record companies and producers. This form of exploitation and cultural theft plagued Black artists for decades to come.

The cultural theft phenomenon is explored through the character Levee, who the late Chadwick Boseman plays. While the famous Blues singer at the center of the Netflix movie is real, the story itself is fictional, including the other characters, like Levee. The plot is broadly based on a true story: the history of white men exploiting Black musicians.

Wilson examines the racial, economic, and cultural struggles of the period in his play.

At the heart of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is Rainey’s determination to stay true to her roots in the face of criticism of her personality. Because she is independent and authoritative, her white producer and manager perceive her negatively. Her sharp business sense and determination to avoid financial traps boxes her into being labeled a diva.

To her label and manager, she is just a way to make money. As she states, “They don’t care nothing about me. All they want is my voice.”

The success of Rainey and other traditional, “country” blues performers did little to protect them from the pressure to record music with a broader commercial appeal, and this clash is depicted in the movie. Bandmate Levee, desperately longing for respect and recognition in an era of racial oppression, considers turning away from music born of and steeped in an affirmation of Black life and the struggle for Black self-determination.

Rainey’s career was not long-lasting.

As the play depicts, musical tastes were indeed changing. Despite recording more than 100 songs in five years in the late 1920s, Rainey’s career declined as jazz, and other popular music forms took center stage. The economic downturn of the Great Depression led to a decline in touring opportunities. Rainey effectively retired in 1935, returning home to Georgia, where she managed local theaters until her death in 1939.

Because many of her Paramount recordings were of inferior audio quality, her music slipped into obscurity for decades before they were reissued in the 1960s. Her catalog’s resurgence helped Rainey reclaim her role as one of the most important and influential blues musicians. She was eventually inducted into both the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Black History Month is a time to recognize trailblazing black individuals who are often overlooked in American history. Black figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin and Muhammad Ali are frequently mentioned.

Let’s take a look at some of the most influential black people from the past and now in 2021

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)

During the racially contentious period in the late 1960s, Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress. Chisholm represented New York’s 12th District from 1969 to 1983.

In 1972, she became the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Her campaign slogan, “Unbought and Unbossed,” rings even louder today. Vice President Kamala Harris paid tribute to Chisholm in her past 2020 presidential campaign announcement using a logo inspired by Chisholm’s slogan.

Bayard Rustin (1912-1987)

Dr. King was often credited for the March on Washington in August 1963. But it was Bayard Rustin who organized and strategized on the low. As a gay man who had controversial ties to communism, he was considered too much of a liability to be the face of the movement. Still, Rustin served his community tirelessly while pushing for more jobs and better wages.

Bessie Coleman (1892-1926)

Despite being the first licensed black pilot globally, Coleman was not recognized as an aviation pioneer until after her death. History has favored Amelia Earhart and the Wright brothers; however, Coleman, who attended flight school in France in 1919, paved the way for a new generation of diverse fliers like the Tuskegee airmen, Blackbirds and Flying Hobos.

Tarana Burke (1973-)

Tarana Burke is a civil rights activist who was the founder of the “Me Too” movement, which she started in 2006. It later became a global phenomenon that raised awareness about sexual harassment, abuse and assault in society in 2017. Burke originally adopted the phrase “me too” while working at Just Be Inc., a nonprofit she founded in 2003 that focused on the overall well-being of young women of color.

Burke was talking with a girl who revealed that her mother’s boyfriend had been sexually abusing her. Burke was left searching for the right words to help empathize with the countless women and young girls who have disclosed their trauma to her. Ever since then, Burke has shared the message with survivors everywhere: “You’re not alone. This happened to me too.”

Claudette Colvin (1939-)

Before Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, there was a courageous 15-year-old who chose not to sit at the back of the bus. That young girl was Claudette Colvin.

Utilizing her constitutional rights to remain seated near the middle of the vehicle, Colvin challenged the driver and was subsequently arrested. She was the first woman to be detained for her resistance. However, her story isn’t nearly as well-known as Parks’.

Crispus Attucks (1723-1770)

During his lifetime, the United States of America did not exist. But during the Boston massacre, an uprising against British troops, the dock worker, Crispus Attucks, was the first of five civilians to be killed on March 5, 1770. Henceforth, he became the black martyr of the American Revolution. Crispus Attucks’ father was likely an enslaved African and his mother a native belonging to the Natick tribe, the “Praying Indians.”

Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992)

Netflix brought Johnson’s story to life with the documentary, “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson,” by David France. Many people were unfamiliar with the influential role she had on drag and queer culture. Marsha P. Johnson, a black, transwoman activist was at the forefront of the LGBTQ movement. In addition to being the co-founder of STAR, an organization that housed homeless, queer youth, Johnson also strived for equality through the Gay Liberation Front.

Alicia Garza (1981-), Patrisse Cullors (1984-) and Opal Tometi (1984-)

#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization across the US, UK and Canada, whose goal is to eradicate white supremacy. They also strive to build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on black communities by the state and vigilantes as stated on their website.

The originators of the hashtag and call to action, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, quickly expanded their project into a national network of over 30 local chapters between 2014 and 2016. The overall Black Lives Matter movement is a decentralized network of activists with no formal hierarchy.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931)

Born to parents who were slaves before the civil war, Ida B. Wells-Barnett became an influential journalist, educator, civil rights leader and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She famously documented widespread lynchings in the South and a justice system that “takes us out and murders us in cold blood when accused by white persons.”

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)

Phillis Wheatley was born on the banks of the Gambia River in Africa before she was sold into slavery at the age of seven. Her slave owners taught her to read and write. She published her first poem at the age of 13. In 1773 she was the first African American to publish an entire volume of poetry. For this, she was also praised by George Washington, who invited her to his home.

Alvin Ailey (1931-1989)

Ailey was an acclaimed dancer and choreographer who earned global recognition for his impact on modern dance. After mastering his technique at the Lester Horton Dance Theater, Ailey went on to choreograph non-traditional Ballets.

He founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958, a multiracial troupe that provided a platform for talented black dancers and traveled worldwide. Ailey died of an AIDS-related illness at 58, but the company still exists today in New York City.

Huey P. Newton (1942-1989)

An illiterate high-school graduate, Newton taught himself how to read before attending Merritt College in Oakland and the San Francisco School of Law. While at Merritt he met Bobby Seale, and together, they co-founded the Black Panther group in 1966.

They formed the Black Panther party in response to incidents of police brutality, racism and the need for black self-reliance. At the height of its popularity during the late 1960s, the party had 2,000 members in chapters in several cities.

Netflix struck gold with their release of the Regency era romance Bridgerton. In this semi-fictionalized world, brought to us by Shonda Rhimes’ new major deal with Netflix, race does not stop a person from belonging to a particular class.

The show is a vibrant and indulgent dose of escapism. The series places luxurious ball gowns against the backdrop of lush garden parties as the young ladies and gentlemen of Regency era England try to find love.

The partygoers traditionally dance to classical interpretations of pop songs, like Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” by the Vitamin String Quartet. Julie Andrews’ narration of the story only enhances the elegant production.

The hit show is based on the best-selling novel series by Julia Quinn, and it breaks barriers when it comes to race. This leads to the point of contention for those arguing the series is historically inaccurate.

In the first episode, we meet an African-American male lead, Regé-Jean Page, who plays the Duke of Hastings. He is the most eligible bachelor out of the group and all the women want to marry him. Yet still, he has sworn off marriage completely, that is until he meets Daphne Bridgerton, a sought-after white girl whose future becomes intertwined with his unexpectedly.

At first glimpse, Bridgerton is a color-blind fantasy liberated from the racial discourse. But as history goes, we know that’s not accurate.

By the third episode, racial issues are finally discussed in a seemingly frivolous way. While explaining the importance of love, Lady Danberry, one of the show’s Black matriarchs, reveals that their “white” king fell in love with a “Black woman,” Queen Charlotte.

Danberry continues and says the bond between the King and Queen is why their society is without discrimination. Danberry continues, “the king’s love for Queen Charlotte brought the country together. It allowed people of color to gain titles and be treated with dignity and respect.”

That’s the first and last time we hear anything about race or racism in the entire season. Even though race discussions are important, it was refreshing to see people of color not be weighed down by their oppressors. Here in Bridgerton they are seemingly no different than anybody else.

In an interview with Times, showrunner Van Dusen explains his reason for this version of Regency England. It came about when he learned that the actual Queen Charlotte might have been a Portuguese royal family member with African ancestry.

“It made me wonder what that could have looked like,” he said, “Could she have used her power to elevate other people of color in society? Could she have given them titles and lands and dukedoms?”

However, as Barack Obama’s presidency proved, a country being led by a Black person does not suddenly make racial issues settle.

Within Bridgerton, there needed to be more clarification of how race played into this society and what Queen Charlotte accomplished for people of color.

Despite the race-related flaws, Bridgerton does try to give us an accurate depiction of England’s demographics.

Other period dramas like “Downton Abbey” and “Pride & Prejudice” lead audiences to believe that only white people lived in those spaces at the time. The lack of diversity in period dramas only preserves this false narrative.

Black and brown people have had a presence in England for centuries and they weren’t just servants and slaves. Bridgerton shows this with Will Mondrich, a Black boxer based on famous real-life boxer Bill Richmond, who rose to success in 19th century England. The representation was needed and appreciated.

Hopefully, moving forward, other period pieces move in a more diverse direction as Bridgerton has. Then we can analyze them for their content, not by their lack of inclusivity.