The Alcorn State University Golden Girls are finally getting the credit they deserve for their role in a viral meme that layered Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” over one of their performances and put the 40-year-old song back on the Billboard charts.

It all started last month, when a Twitter user/Fleetwood Mac “superfan” edited video footage of the dance team by overlaying the song in a tweet that quickly went viral.

https://twitter.com/bottledfleet/status/976864863329931265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Farts-and-entertainment%2Fwp%2F2018%2F04%2F04%2Fhow-a-black-college-dance-troupe-landed-a-decades-old-fleetwood-mac-song-on-the-billboard-charts%2F

Despite the tweet’s popularity, most people didn’t know who the dancers were or where they came from. Even 19-year-old Mark Villasana, who wrote the tweet, didn’t know the origin of the video, telling the Washington Post, “Whoever she was, she was very fierce.”

“She” is Elexis Wilson, captain of the Golden Girls, and the viral video clip was of her first performance as the team’s new leader.

“I was shocked that actually somebody watched that video,” Wilson told the Washington Post.

 

 

The meme has been viewed by millions, and digital streams of “Dreams” went up 24 percent to 1.9 million the following week, according to Billboard.

The Golden Girls have been trailblazers since their inception in 1968. They were the first dance team to perform choreographed routines set to the marching band’s halftime music.  Their debut performance at the Orange Blossom Classic in Miami was groundbreaking, as described by the Alcorn Campus Chronicle:

“As the young ladies took the field, a silence fell upon the crowd as these eight regal, African American females took the field. The capes were snatched off in a quick one, two motion, revealing Alcorn’s most prized possessions. As the young ladies danced to the tunes of the band, the crowd went ballistic, giving the band and the Golden Girls the approval that was needed.”