Just over the weekend, Tyler Perry hosted a grand opening for Tyler Perry Studios attended by massive stars and influential figures including Beyoncé, Oprah, Colin Kaepernick, and Rep. Maxine Waters. Perry is famous for embodying Madea, a tough and elderly black woman who appears in several of his films as the titular character.

The location of the studio is significant because, according to Perry, the studio was built on an old Confederate army base in a poor neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. He said of the fact, “Think about the poetic justice in that. The Confederate Army is fighting to keep Negroes enslaved in America, fighting, strategy, planning on this very ground. And now this very ground is owned by me.”

That ground is now home to over 330 acres of studio and other buildings, including a replica of the White House. Each of the twelve sound stages is named after influential black people like director Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg, and Halle Berry. It is now one of the biggest studios in the entire world. Ava DuVernay remarks in an instagram post, “The studio lots of Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Fox and Sony could fit inside @TylerPerry’s studio lot at the same time – and there would still be 60 acres to spare.” Check out the post below:

Fun Fact: The studio lots of Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Fox and Sony could fit inside @TylerPerry’s studio lot at the same time – and there would still be 60 acres to spare. All on a former Confederate Army base. A stunning achievement that will echo through the generations. https://t.co/XCeXE09y77

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 6, 2019

Our congratulations to Tyler Perry for this groundbreaking accomplishment.