By AFRO Staff
Madea is going to school this fall.
Emory University’s Oxford College, based in Georgia, is currently offering a course based on Tyler Perry’s body of work, including his most-known character, “Madea,” and his impact on the entertainment industry. It is the first college course of its kind in the country, according to NBC News.
“In the Language of Folk and Kin: The Legacy of Folklore, the Griot and Community in the Artistic Praxis of Tyler Perry,” is being taught by Dr. Tameka Cage Conley. As part of the course, which was launched in August, students will analyze Perry’s notable speeches, movies and television shows and how they explore issues pertinent to the Black community. And, they will also examine how his catalog of work adds to the legacy established by Black authors like Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Ntozake, according to NBC News.
“Ultimately, I thought it was vital to recognize that Perry was telling the stories about aspects of our communities that are usually ignored and people who are often ignored,” said Conley, an assistant professor of English and creative writing at the school.
The 45-year-old, who is a fan of Perry’s movies, said she pitched the idea to the university after her grandmother died in June 2021. The loss caused her to reflect on the importance of matriarchs in Black families, a theme central to Perry’s work.
Black matriarchs “come from a community and come from a time that knows how to survive,” Conley said. “And because they know how to survive, they can sustain us while they’re telling us to keep going.”
Perhaps, none of Perry’s characters epitomizes that role more than Madea, who the actor-director-producer has said was based on his mother and aunt.
“She’s the type of grandmother that was on every corner when I was growing up,” Perry told “60 Minutes” in 2009. “She smoked. She walked out of the house with her curlers and her muumuu and she watched everybody’s kids. She didn’t take no crap. She’s a strong figure where I come from. In my part of the African-American community. And I say that because I’m sure that there are some other parts of the African-American community that may be looking at me now going, ‘Who does he think he’s speaking of?’ But, for me, this woman was very, very visible.”
“In the Language of Folk and Kin” is open to freshmen enrolled in Emory’s Oxford College.
Class discussions will include a comparison between Perry’s 2019 BET Ultimate Icon Award acceptance speech and Cornelius Eady’s poem “Gratitude.” Students will also analyze Perry’s eulogy at Whitney Houston’s 2012 funeral with elegies by Black poets like Jericho Brown, Danez Smith and Nicole Sealey.
The course also examines the movie executive’s own rags-to-riches story: rising from a background of poverty and sexual abuse to the pinnacle of fame and success.
Perry has carved his own path in Hollywood, including the creation of his Tyler Perry Studios which employs over 200 staff members, most of whom are Black. He has also received prestigious awards throughout his career for his work, including the Primetime Emmy Governors Award in 2020 and the Humanitarian Award at the 2021 Oscars.
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