At SpelHouse, homecoming weekend means one thing: tailgate. It’s where the campus comes alive, old friends reunite, current students celebrate, and the legacy of two storied HBCUs fills the air with pride.
Each year, thousands of Spelman and Morehouse students, alumni, and families return to the Atlanta University Center for a weekend that’s part block party, part reunion, and all tradition. The SpelHouse tailgate has become the centerpiece of homecoming week, a place where generations come together to eat, dance, and remember what makes this community so special.
Music blares from tents, the smell of barbecue drifts through the air, and every inch of the campus buzzes with laughter, Black pride, and nostalgia.
For many, like William Robinson, a 1978 graduate of Morehouse College, it’s not just a celebration. It’s a homecoming in every sense of the word.
“I have been away for quite some time,” Robinson told Capital B Atlanta. “A guy called me and said that we were celebrating the 50-year anniversary of our line, Alpha Phi Alpha. He asked me to come, and then strangely, two weeks later, he died. I had to come back.”
Robinson paused, reflecting on the moment with tears in his eyes. “That was an act of love when these people called me 50 years later to come back,” he said.
“I cried, I cried, I cried,” Robinson added. “It was very emotional because I quit — I didn’t finish the pledge — and they still called me and invited me anyway.”
For Robinson, returning to the tailgate brought everything full circle: brotherhood, memory, and the spirit of homecoming.
That same pride is found in current students like Jayson Faulkner, a senior biology major and intern for Morehouse College President Dr. F. DuBois Bowman. For Faulkner, homecoming serves as both a celebration and a reflection of what Morehouse represents.
“I don’t know any other institution in this world that is for the betterment of Black men.”
Jayson Faulkner, senior biology major at Morehouse College
“I don’t know any other institution in this world that is for the betterment of Black men,” Faulkner said. “I’ve done everything I needed to do here. I feel very accomplished, and I have no regrets.”
For RJ Jackson, a political science major and 2025 graduate who served as Student Government Association president, the weekend represents a continuation of the brotherhood he found while matriculating.
“It literally is in the name — you’re coming home,” Jackson said. “This is a space where you can come and simply be. There’s nothing like this on earth.”
As a member of the Alpha Rho Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Jackson said the energy of the weekend reminds him of the importance of community. “Of course I’ve got my real family, but I’ve got my SpelHouse family, too,” he said. “I haven’t stopped smiling since I’ve been on campus.”
For Jackson, the tailgate bridges generations as a visible reminder that the brotherhood built at Morehouse only grows stronger over time. “I think Morehouse is the first brotherhood, and then your Greek brotherhood is like that second brotherhood, too,” he said.
Ada Johnson, a Spelman College graduate from the Class of 2000 and a proud SpelHouse legacy, said returning to the tailgate still feels like coming home.
“Given all that’s happening in the world around us, coming back home healed me in ways that I did not imagine.”
Ada Johnson, 2000 graduate of Spelman College
“I have been on an emotional high since May when I walked back through the Alumnae Arch,” Johnson said. “Given all that’s happening in the world around us, coming back home healed me in ways that I did not imagine.”
Ada Johnson, a 2000 Spelman College graduate, said homecoming was healing. (Lorna Morris)
She said being surrounded by familiar faces and the shared spirit of Spelman and Morehouse reminds her of why this tradition endures. “When I come back and I see Black excellence on the highest pedestal, there’s nothing you can tell me,” Johnson said. “It is who we are as a family.”
Current Spelman student Blair Martin, a senior English major, member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., and co-editor-in-chief of The Spelman Blueprint, said homecoming feels especially meaningful this year.
“I’m feeling really emotional and sentimental,” Martin told Capital B Atlanta. “My first homecoming was in 2022, which was the first full week of programming since COVID.”
Martin said the crowd may be large, but it’s the sense of connection that makes it feel intimate.
“Yeah, it’s a ton of people, but it’s really just a bunch of different iterations and generations of small communities that have made the conscious decision to stick together and stay committed to each other and the love that they have,” Martin said. “I think it adds an additional layer of community and of love.”
Grace Barlow is an international studies major attending Spelman College. Photographer Lorna Morris is a psychology major on the pre-med track at Spelman college. This article is part of Capital B Atlanta’s journalism partnership with HBCU reporters.
