'Black' Stars of Television
May 3rd 2010 01:30
African-Americans occupy a overwhelmingly stereotypical and ultimately dangerous position. Historically depicted as comedic fools, lackluster servants, cold-blooded criminals, and morally bankrupt individuals, Black people have been constructed as a monolithic entity without culture nor historical relevance."
Or so says one Brandon M. Easton - excuse me for not recognising immediately his credentials.
While this is broadbrushly (is that a word?) true of early television - we have in most moved on.
Early Black TV shows like The Beulah Show and Amos 'N' Andy were heavily criticized and it wasn't until the 60's that there was some kind of legimate change to the the stereotypes.
One of the shows created in this era was Julia, starring Diahn Carrol. Julia was a single Black mother who was a nurse. She was middle-class and generally shown in the company of sympathetic and "color-blind" white people.
The 1970's were a watershed decade for African-American TV shows. The most popular of these was All in the Family, starring Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, and Sally Struthers. Although this was not a Black show per se, it dealt with racism in the form of bigoted Archie Bunker.
The late 70's brought The Jeffersons, Good Times, and Sanford and Son.
These series represented a wider cross-section of the inner-city African-American populace than had ever been seen before on TV.
The 1980's brought forth Cosby Show, there was Different Strokes, Webster, Gimme a Break, and the A-Team. While Black characters were prominent in all of these series, television commentators will look back on the period as a retrograde period rooted in stereotypes long thought to be dormant.
Aggressive campaigns pointing to the virtual strangehold Jewish producers have on both the big and small screens have been cited as reason that African-American actors never really been given either the credit or roles they deserve.
Whether this is true or a bitter and simplistic excuse is probably not one for wider discussion here, rather to gauge who have been our most popular black actors over almost six decades of televison?
From Bill Cosby to Oprah. Robert Guillaume to Martin Lawrence. Mr T to Eddie Murphy. Phillip Michael Thomas to Flip Wilson.
Who are our standout performers?
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Comment by Anonymous
Abstract Magick
Cinema Herald
During the 80's I was afraid that there would be a growing trend of dishing out TV shows where white families were taking in black children as being the norm. Webster was a shameful copy of Different Strokes.
But call it what you will, Bill Cosby's break out TV series crushed the image of the stereotypes of the past for the audiences were introduced to African American families that were much like their own. I imagine it was an eye opener for some.