‘That’s the legacy’: Filmmaker Spike Lee brings 'School Daze' back to Atlanta 38 years later

Caption

The original poster for School Daze, directed and starring Spike Lee.

Credit: Forty Acres and Mule Filmworks

Nearly four decades after School Daze first hit theaters, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee returned to Atlanta to celebrate the film’s legacy.

On Tuesday night, a packed Fox Theatre crowd filled the historic venue for a Black History Month screening marking the 38th anniversary of the film. Current historically Black college and university students, alumni and longtime fans arrived wearing fraternity and sorority letters and proudly representing their alma maters — from schools across the Atlanta University Center to HBCUs nationwide.

Before the lights dimmed, Lee took the stage to encourage moviegoers to fully embrace the experience. He urged the crowd to get out of their seats when the music hit during one of the film’s most recognizable moments, the go-go anthem “Da Butt,” performed by Washington, D.C.-based band E.U.

Released in 1988, School Daze follows a homecoming weekend at Mission College, a fictional HBCU inspired by Lee’s experience as a graduate of Morehouse College. The musical comedy explores apartheid-era activism, Greek life, class divisions and colorism within the Black community. The film sparked controversy during production when Morehouse removed the film crew from campus partway through filming, forcing Lee to complete shooting at Clark Atlanta University and Morris Brown College.

Lee said he originally hoped the social issues explored in the film might feel dated by now. Instead, he says many remain relevant today.

“I was hoping some of this stuff would stop,” Lee said in an interview with GPB. “Here we are 38 years later, and some of the same conversations are still happening.”

Lee is a third-generation Morehouse graduate. His father, jazz musician Bill Lee, graduated from Morehouse in 1951, and his grandfather attended the college in the 1920s. Lee’s mother and grandmother both graduated from Spelman College.

During the screening, Lee watched from a seat in the center of the theater, occasionally offering commentary and sharing behind-the-scenes stories with the crowd. When singer Phyllis Hyman appeared on screen performing one of the film’s standout musical moments, Lee gleefully reminded the audience that the song was written and composed by his father. While Hyman performed the vocals on the soundtrack, Bill Lee is credited as the composer and lyricist for the piece featured in the film.

Still, Lee says the film’s most meaningful legacy extends beyond cultural conversation and into classrooms and college campuses across the country.

"People 38 years later say, 'School Daze is not just why I went to a Black school,' but people say School Daze is why they went to college," Lee said. "Not just a historically Black school or university; they went to college because of School Daze."

TRANSCRIPT:

Pamela Kirkland: This is Morning Edition; I'm Pamela Kirkland. Over the last four decades, Spike Lee has written and directed more than 35 films. The Academy Award-winning filmmaker is back in Atlanta, returning to the city where he was born. School Daze hit theaters back in 1988. It follows one homecoming weekend at Mission College, a fictional HBCU. The film tackled apartheid activism, class divisions, and colorism within the Black community — and it also stirred a little controversy. 38 years later, Lee is here screening School Daze at the fabulous Fox Theatre with HBCU students across Atlanta invited to attend. Spike Lee, thank you so much for being here. 

Spike Lee: Thank you for having me. I was born in Grady Hospital, so you know, I went to college here. 

Pamela Kirkland: 1979 graduate of Morehouse College, you returned as a filmmaker and you were willing to kind of give this hard look to an institution that really shaped you and your family. So four decades later, you're bringing back School Daze. What does that moment really represent for you? 

Spike Lee: Well, it represented growth from the first film, She's Gonna Have It, which we shot on a shoestring. This was a much bigger budget, established stars: Laurence Fishburne, Joe Esposito, late Greg Bill Nunn. And it's really, School Daze was my four years at Morehouse. 

Pamela Kirkland: This is a film that just still feels so relevant. When you were making the film, did you think this would be something that would span generations? 

Spike Lee: Well, I was hoping some of this stuff would stop. Here we are 38 years later, there's still stuff going on. So the film has a life. And so people will be watching this film 30 years from now — and beyond. 

Pamela Kirkland: You make so many films that, at the same time, talk about external pressures and things that are happening in the world, but also are this internal look at divisions within the Black community. How do you have those discussions at the same time?  

Spike Lee: Very carefully! But all jokes aside, I consider myself a storyteller. So, not all my films, but some films about what's happening today and that's what the story's about. And it pains me that some of the stuff we were talking about in School Daze we're still going through. I mean, I'd rather — I mean, let the audience, rather, figure that out and what they say is the — what we could do to stop that stuff. But I've been very fortunate to make films and I'm honored, you know, to come back to Atlanta and show this film 38 years later, where we —  where we shot it. 

Pamela Kirkland: You have people come up to you and say, "Hey, School Daze inspired me to go to an HBCU or inspired me go to college at all."

Spike Lee: That's the legacy. I think that's the most for me. That's most important legacy of School Daze that people still today, 38 years later say, School Daze is why, not just I went to a Black school, but people say School Daze, they went to college. Not just a Black, a historic Black school or university; they went to college because of School Daze. 

Pamela Kirkland: When you were making School Daze, you got kicked off of Morehouse's campus two weeks into filming.

Spike Lee: Yeah, they said, President Hugh Gloster, he said, "You guys can't shoot here." He saw who I cast as a president, the great late Joe Seneca, and he told me he's too dark to be the president. Can you believe that? This is the president of Morehouse, who's very light-skinned. He said the guy, the actor you cast to play the president is — "He looks like a Sambo."

Pamela Kirkland: Well, I mean, it plays into the film, though, because you discuss colorism in the film. 

Spike Lee: That's what the film's about! Imagine as the president of Morehouse, Hugh Gloster, told me that the great actor Joe Seneca was too dark and looked like a Sambo. So we totally — I knew I was doing something right. 

Pamela Kirkland: Was there ever a moment where you were nervous after you got kicked off Morehouse's campus? They're like, "All right, find somewhere else to go film."

Spike Lee: We went to Clark College and Atlanta University — they weren't combined back then — and Morris Brown. 

Pamela Kirkland: So you were able to finish, but did you ever think for a second that maybe you might not be able to get the film done? 

Spike Lee: Never. 

Pamela Kirkland: Never a doubt?

Spike Lee: I had doubts, but I knew we were gonna get it done. Hook or crook, it was gonna get done. But that even —the thing with Hugh Gloster, that even made me think that "This is what we're talking about! This is what the film's about." No, I will say the legacy of School Daze is that, as we talked about already, but people went to school, went to college, went on to do grad school because of that film, School Daze. Malcolm X, you know, that — that's what Denzel did. So all the documentaries I did, the one that had the greatest impact for me is called Four Little Girls, which is about the bombing of the 6th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., and those four little great, wonderful young girls' lives were ended with 16 sticks of dynamite. 

Pamela Kirkland: And that film had real impact because you got a phone call about that one. 

Spike Lee: So we wanted — we wanted to be eligible for the Oscars' documentary category, and to be considered, you have to have a one-week theatrical run. And the phone rang, and I didn't recognize the number. I said, "Who is this?" He said, "This is a federal agent" and the name "FBI." And they requested a print of the film. But before that, I don't know why that guy's calling me. I didn't do nothing. Ain't getting nothing on me, copper. But I gave him the — the print, and a week or so later they reopened the case, and reopened the case and sent those guys to prison. Now that is an example of art being used to right injustice. 

Pamela Kirkland: Spike Lee is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker. Over the last four decades, he's written and directed more than 35 films, including Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Black Kkklansman, When the Levees Broke. Spike Lee, thank you so much for stopping by the GPB Studios. 

Spike Lee: Thank you for having me — and have me back!