Frustrated by stereotypes about Africans and ignorance about the continent (Africa is in fact a continent—not a country), the students in the African Student Association at Ithaca College created a campaign called The Real Africa: Fight the Stereotype. It included images of students with phrases and facts displayed to debunk the stereotypes—such as, “I don’t speak ‘African’ because ‘African’ is not a language.”

The campaign went viral after students posted the images to CNN’s iReport in late January. A few weeks later, CNN picked up the story with an online article for their African Voices coverage. The images were liked and reblogged more than 110,000 times, and the campaign was featured on Buzzfeed, USAToday College, and The Global Week in Review on BET.com. See all of the posters in the campaign in the gallery on the right.