A legacy Black magazine cover changed filmmaker Phill Branch’s life forever, but it wasn’t until he created a documentary about his love for his HBCU that the moment came full circle.

Branch grew up in New Jersey, but after he saw the illustrious Hampton University in the corner of a cover of the May 1988 edition of Ebony Magazine, he had to know more about what appeared to be Black people living their absolute best lives.

“I went to Hampton partly because there was a magazine article when I was young. Lisa Bonet was on the cover, and at the bottom corner, there was a thing about the richest Black school, and it was Hampton; it just looked so beautiful,” Branch recalled. “I’m 14 years old, and I read this article about Hampton. The campus was beautiful. You see all the kids, and they’re well-dressed and groomed, perfect sort of attire, and it just looked amazing.”

“And I’m this kid in Jersey thinking, Oh, I want this. I see the president of the university who looks like Lionel Richie, and I’m just like this amazing place, this sort of alternative universe, where people who look like me are living in this space, being educated, unbothered with what’s happening outside of that space,” he continued. “I went to Hampton for my family reunion that next year and was like, this place is amazing. I gotta go here, and then I ended up attending the school, meeting some of those people in the article; one was a chapter brother of mine in our fraternity.”

On Accepting The Call To Tell Hampton University’s Story

He said that meeting then-president Dr. William R. Harvey, the 12th president in the school’s history, was also the icing on the cake because when he was called back to lead the charge on making Hampton University: One of the Wonders of the World, a documentary dedicated to the rich history and legacy of the HBCU located in Hampton, Virginia, the moment was almost fate.

“It just felt like a story had started to be written a long time before someone asked me to make this film,” said Branch. “Even though a lot of that personal narrative doesn’t show up in the movie, sort of that heart does about what makes Hampton special. It informed me how I made the piece that wasn’t about facts and figures. It was about the stories of the people who are at Hampton. We can talk about facts, figures, numbers, blah, blah, but it’s our story about people who make the place.”

The documentary, set to premiere during aspireTV’s HBCU Spirit week, aligns with our mission to showcase and amplify the power, creativity, and overall Black excellence that stems from institutions like Hampton University. 

Moreover, this cause aligns with Branch’s vision for controlling the narrative and telling an authentic story of Hampton’s history and legacy.

“I believe that we have to find the stories within the story,” he said. “And what I mean by that is, I was very intentional with this film to make a quiet film about HBCUs because what people tend to do when they talk about HBCUs is, you see the band, you see people stepping, you see the Gospel Choir, you see all of those things and those things are beautiful. They all are elements of HBCU culture, but there are also relationships. There’s the educational piece, there’s the research. There are the museums. There are the archives, you know, the people who run the school, who ensure it’s still standing 100-something years later. Those are all important stories I think.”

Branch added, “There’s so much being written and talked about, and it’s either very much in the past — where it’s just like this sort of archival look back at these places — or its hype, the band, dancing, stepping, homecoming. All of those things are vital. However, what I wanted people to see was a university that had strong historical roots that were focused on education and sort of the overall view of what an HBCU looks like. That is all of the relationships, all of the fun, but what is at its core? It’s about changing lives, which happens in many ways, but one of the primary ways, since it is a university, is through education, so I wanted to highlight that.”

How Attending An HBCU Made His Dreams Come True

His experience as an HBCU alum was very present in his work on the film and in Branch’s day-to-day life. He said that though this was instilled in him far before he stepped foot on Hampton’s campus, being a student at the university further cemented his belief that the ice was colder on the other side. 

“I wasn’t concerned about proving anything to anybody else because we all knew we had it,” said Branch. “I never had the fear that some people have that being at an HBCU isolates you. When you go through four years of college where you’re not the man or woman down in the situation, or you gotta show someone that you’re 110 times better, that lets your mind be free to imagine, dream, and do the work you need to do.”

Those big dreams ultimately led Branch to win his first Emmy award when the documentary was honored with an Emmy for Outstanding Education/Schools Long Form Content (Capital Emmys/2024).

“The Emmy was such an important sort of punctuation to this film,” Branch stated. “It was important to have that acknowledgment for HBCUs, for a project that was centered on a topic like this, that Hampton can say, ‘Hey, not only did we have this great film, but the Television Academy saw this project and thought that this was a valuable piece of work. For me, as a filmmaker, who doesn’t want an Emmy or an Oscar, right?”

“People tell you what you’re not going to be able to do when you go to an HBCU because you’re not going to be exposed, and it’s going to be a thing and that,” he continued. “I’ve made movies. They’ve been on PBS. They’ve been on Maryland Public Television. They’ve traveled the world, and I have it in me, and I went to an HBCU. I think just having that sort of symbol is so important. I don’t get excited about things when they happen, but this blew me away. It’s one of the things that you don’t think is possible. You don’t see yourself having one of those in your hand, but it was exciting. It is exciting. I look at it still in my house.”

There Is No Pride Like HBCU Pride

Branch also says that Hampton University: One of the Wonders of the World is a testament to how people who matriculate through the HBCU always seem to come back home in some capacity. For him, it started out as a professor, where he not only taught students for five years but also helped establish the school’s current film studies program.

Once Dr. Harvey left, former student and LTG (ret) Darrell K. Williams assumed the role of Hampton’s 13th president, which Branch says speaks volumes about the school being one big family.

“I think something special that you see at HBCUs, is that people will circle back, whether it be at a professor level like I did, or like President Williams who graduated from Hampton sometime in the 80s and has come back after a long career, with all the knowledge that he has,” said Branch. “He’s bridging the gap now to take Hampton to the next level, and I think seeing that continuation coming from another person, not only from an HBCU but from Hampton, specifically, is special.”

Hampton University: One of the Wonders of the World premieres on aspireTV on Friday, Oct. 25 at 8p ET.

To learn more about Phill Branch’s films and documentaries, visit https://linktr.ee/phillbranch