By Oyin Adedoyin for The Chronicle of Higher Education

To the average gymnastics fan, there was nothing unusual about the TikTok video. It followed 16 Fisk University students as they strutted into a nondescript gym, stretched, and perfected a series of tumbling techniques. They landed graceful aerials on balance beams, powered through double back-handspring tucks, and performed split leaps across the mat.

What sent this video viral — over 1 million plays, 200,000 likes, 7,000 comments — was that the students were members of the first gymnastics team at a historically Black college.