Hogwarts Academy is Now HAMU and We Love It Here
Trending on TikTok, Hogwarts Academy is now an HBCU called Hogwarts A&M or HAMU and we love it! With the release of Hogwarts Legacy came a lot of controversies, including calls to boycott the game, the books, and all things Harry Potter. But Black content creators waved their wands on TikTok and Twitter and created a space of their own from the culture of Historically Black Colleges and Universities or HBCUs. And now everyone’s trying to attend #HAMU.
Lack of Inclusion of Black People in Fantasy
Even though fantasy franchises in video games, film, and literature have made incredible improvements in the inclusion of Black and PoC people, Black people are still rarely considered and are typically relegated to side characters, or villains, or are just non-existent in fantasy worlds. For too many non-Black writers and filmmakers, imagining a fantasy world with Black people is difficult. For some reason, they do not think Black people belong in medieval eras or fantasy worlds. Their argument almost always involves “staying true to the historical context” like with Final Fantasy XVI, but will include monsters, dragons, magic, unrealistic armor, weapons, etc.
And when writers and filmmakers do begin to include Black characters, the project is met with backlash and cries of “forced diversity.” And those same people have gone so far as to colonize the word “woke” to use it as an insult when a film or video game includes more diverse characters or reimagines fantasy characters as non-white.
And because Black Americans have been creatively creating their own culture for hundreds of years, they’ve perfected the art of improving existing content by adding flavor. Seasoning, if you will. And that’s exactly what Black folk did with Harry Potter and Hogwarts.
Black Representation in Harry Potter
Harry Potter has been a magical escape for many fantasy readers growing up and in adulthood, including Black folk. Of the seven Harry Potter books, there are only five Black characters, that we know of:
Blaise Zabini is a Slytherin student who is briefly mentioned in the books.
Angelina Johnson is a Gryffindor student and Quidditch player who dates Fred Weasley.
Kingsley Shacklebolt is a powerful Auror and member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Dean Thomas is a Gryffindor student who is friends with Harry and dates Ginny Weasley.
Lee Jordan, a Gryffindor student who is friends with Harry and commentates on Quidditch matches.
And even these characters rely heavily on stereotypes of Black people and are quite underdeveloped compared to White characters. And now we’re seeing more Black authors create Black stories as an alternative to fighting for space and representation in White-centered fantasy. But at this moment, Black creators have taken over Hogwarts and it’s one of the best things to happen on the internet.
The Real Magic is All This Black Joy
Black folk on TikTok and Twitter sprinkled a little magic onto the fandom when Hogwarts Legacy was released. In the game, players are placed in one of four magical houses, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. Twitter user, Darren Nesbitt used MidJourney AI to create images of Black Hogwarts students at the HAMU step show. The images generated remind me of Ernie Barnes’ “Sugar Shack” painting that was famously used in the show Good Times.
Credit: Darren Nesbitt
Content creator, “thebaddestmitch” Mel Mitchell started a hilarious series on Tiktok called The Black Teacher at Hogwarts” in January 2022. And now with Legacy’s release, thebaddestmitch has expanded her series into HAMU, along with so many other Black creators. The transformation of Hogwarts Academy into an HBUC and turning the Hogwarts houses into Black Greek Letter Organizations or BGLOs is a sneak peek into Black joy.
From the parties in the commons to the faculty and staff, everyone wants to go to HAMU. Including transfer students from Wakanda Tech. So many aspects of HBCU culture at HAMU really resonate with a lot of HBCU students and alumni and Black folk in general because HBCUs are an integral part of Black culture and our shared experience.
There are headmistresses, department heads, and even the bullsh*t Financial Aid office (I’m still traumatized by my financial aid experience)! There are step masters like Slytherin Head Prefect baddie Jionne McMichael and the OG Black Hogwarts, Ravenclaw Professor of Potions Mel Mitchell who has already created full step routines for each house. They’ve even given each house a BGLO name (Slytherin = Alpha Sigma Sly) corresponding to characteristics of BGLO’s Dvine 9.
@thebaddestmitch Nah cuz i heard y’all were strolling at the Slytherin party without me so i had fo TURN IT UP 😂🔪🐍❌ #ravenclaw #slytherin #greenscreen #hogwarts #hbcu #d9 #strolling ♬ original sound - nate
@jionne.mc “Watch me squash this sh*t” 😎 #greenscreen #harrypotter #slytherin🐍 ♬ original sound - Jionne Ashante’
But even with the controversy and complaints about the portrayal of Black people in the books and films, Hogwarts Legacy is still popular among blerds (Black nerds) despite J.K. Rowling’s transphobic comments. There are even Black, non-fans of Harry Potter watching on with pride as Black creators carve out a space for themselves in a fantasy world that’s otherwise a bit exclusionary to the Black experience. Black Hogwarts is also a chance for Black folk who didn’t get a chance to attend an HBCU to experience an HBCU virtually.
But for real, fantasy or not, I just want to go to the Battle of the Bands between HAMU and Wakanda State University.
