Leah Barlow, a Liberal Studies Professor in North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, prepared to learn its entry into the African -American studies class this semester as it always does: it united a syllabus, mapping tasks and created a Tiktok account to make material as accessible as possible.
She posted a video on January 20, welcoming her 35 students on the course. By the next morning, it had surfaced in the algorithm of sufficient Tiktok users that 250,000 people had agreed on its channel.
Within days, the videos of Dr. Barlow had inadvertently inspired a freely connected network of black teachers, experts and content creators to form what has been made known as Hillmantok University, a free – and inaccessible and non -repository – on the Internet take on the country’s HBCU , or historically black colleges and universities.
In the lectures submitted to the explosions of ticking length, and in longer sessions on Live Tiktek, instructors are classrooms in gardening, organic chemistry, kitchen arts and other subjects. At the end of the receipt, the organizers say, is an audience of about 16,000 registered users.
“I think this has been in doing,” said Dr. Barlow in an interview last week from her office in Greensboro, NC “You have the opportunity to achieve, not only because of Tiktok, but you also have people who should not be in the ivory tower have the ability to speak. This is something I see beautiful and necessary. “
The appetite for information also comes to the dawn of a second Trump administration. Dr Barlow posted her video hours after President Trump swore and quickly decided to dismantle federal programs that promote diversity, equality and inclusion. Many academics are afraid of a complex effect on all education.
“I certainly think that political time and the environment is widespread with a lot of quarrel,” said Dr. Barlow, adding that Mr. Trump’s attack on diversity programs had given “fresh emergency” to a project that prioritizes black voices.
Cierra Hinton, a former math teacher in Augusta, Ga., And a founder of Hillmantok, observed the original post of Dr. Barlow and some of the early videos inspired by her. “Did I wake in Hillman?” She remembered thinking, referring to Hillman College, the imaginary HBCU presented in “The Cosby Show” and her spinoff, “another world”. A name for movement was born.
Kendnddrick Pringley, a publicist and DJ in Tampa, Fla., Was also among the thousands of Tiktok users stuck in the original post of Dr. Barlow. He is now the president of the Hillmantok Student Union and part of a group of about 40 content creators, returned by volunteers who saw an opportunity to organize.
In the face of uncertainty about the future of education policy under a second Trump administration, Mr. Pringley said a “Social Media University” could provide a space to oppose the misinformation circulating online.
“Education is becoming limited, covered, silent and silent,” he said. “This is a moment and a move that can teach the masses everything they should really know.”
Hillmantok organizers built a website, completed with a catalog site and courses registration, and began providing regular updates to Hillmantok Tiktok account. There is a trusted board and student management board; Many members of both bodies spent the long nights in Zoom creating an official Hillmantok structure.
“We are marching together to make sure everyone has a chance in a free and right education,” said Mr. Pringley.
When Brandi Smith encountered Dr. Barlow, she was disappointed when she discovered that the class was not actually open to the public. Still, Mrs. Smith, who attended the College of Spalman before graduating from the Savannah Art and Design College, followed the curriculum Dr. Barlow posted and began conducting study sessions on its Tiktok site, including topics such as the documentary “13” by director Ava Duvernay; The songs “This is America” by Childish Gambino and “The Revolution will not be television” by Gil Scott-Heron; an episode of the TV show “Atlanta”; And the essay “Why will I not vote” by Web Du Bois.
“It was an opportunity to engage with black women on a level that really spoke to my soul,” Ms. Smith said.
For André Isaacs, a professor of organic chemistry at the Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., Hillmanantok presented an opportunity he had long dreamed of: using his growing social media following his passion for chemistry and teaching.
“We need writing scientific read in our country,” said Dr. Isaacs. “I want to make my part to make people understand the molecules that are in the skin care products they use, and when we say the word acid, what does this mean at a molecular level?”
Dr Isaacs said about 1,000 people were signed through Zoom or Live Tik to hear his first Hillmantok lecture. Since then, about 3,000 people have enrolled on their website to obtain the course material, including recorded lectures, lesson plans, homework and even quizzes, along with an open textbook and a Discord discussion channel, messaging app.
Dr. Isaacs was especially enthusiastic to help demostify a topic that is often seen as inaccessible.
“Teaching the college nowadays is very expensive, so many people may not have access to this, especially many black and brown children,” he said. “If they simply had an understanding of what it looks like or maybe a leg about the materials, it will help build their resistance and enthusiasm for the topic.”
Dominique Kinsler from Orlando, Fla., I am using Hillmantok to change the perceptions of another topic that many see that they have a high obstacle to entry: gardening.
“Whenever I learn something I want to teach it to other people,” she said. “It’s a lot to do while I work,” referring to her career as a pharmacist, “but it’s a passion. It doesn’t feel like everyday work.”
Ms. Kinsler learned herself in the garden during the pandemicism, attracting hundreds of thousands of followers with the lessons she posts under her glove on social media, Pharmunique. So when Hillmantok appeared, a grade of gardening 101 seemed a natural fit.
Her first video Hillmantok received about 1,000 views within 30 minutes and more than 1 million by the next day. She has received such an enthusiastic response to her Hillmantok class, she said she is working in a textbook. Her approach is simple: teaching people how to garden in the space they have at their disposal.
Hillmantok came to an “important turning point,” Ms. Kinsler said, especially when it comes to the impact of politics and misinformation.
“People are little afraid of what education will look like in the future – will we be able to teach these things?” She said, adding that the latest federal ban on Tiktok enlarged that fear. (The app briefly stopped working this month before returning to life after Mr. Trump said he would sign an executive order by delaying the implementation of the ban.) “It felt like someone took part of us away,” she said.
Now, with Hillmantok, people are taking a different approach, Mrs. Kinsler said, “Let me get a notebook. I want to learn.”
Or in the case of Mrs. Kinsler, fresh plants instead of a pen and paper.
For their latest project, followers of Mrs. Kinsler’s Hillmantok course will be required to show the fruits of their work: a video of their finished garden.