i felt like oh, whitley, what is that dress? it just screams first communion. she was always the only black woman on the set of julia. she let us know how special it was that we re on a set with all these black people. a different world was a success because it wasn t a bunch of white men telling little black kids what they were like growing up. i credit all of that to our producer and our director, debbie allen. it was like how can we deepen all of these characters? she d also gone to howard university. so she brought something very organic and authentic. she saw the humanity of black youth, black college kids, blak world. it was a chance for writers, creatives in front and behind the camera to tell our story. what is this? mammy. she s part of my exhibit. from mammy to modern times.