Original subtitles

(Multicom Jingle)

- Oh yeah, the black presence on TV

has changed America forever.

Just start subtracting black from TV

and then you tell me, think of TV without In Living Color.

Think of Saturday Night Live without Eddie Murphy.

Think of television without Flip Wilson.

Let's start subtracting, let's think about TV without

Bill Cosby or Fat Albert and His Boys.

Think about TV music without Quincy's themes Mod Squad.

(retro 70s music)

The Bill Cosby Show.

- What are you gonna do for us this evening?

Are you gonna sing or you gonna play the xylophone?

- Sanford and Son.

Think of TV without Redd Foxx.

Think of TV without George Jefferson.

Think of TV without Good Times and then what you got?

You know what you got then?

(voice echoes) (calm hip hop music)

(explosion blasts)

- [Radio Announcer] From the primitive rock crystal

of yesterday's radio is the crystal ball of television

in which is visible a whole new era of communication.

(calm jazz music)

- [Narrator] The first 50 years of television in black

has been a sometimes strange dance

of images across the TV screen,

stereotyped, sanitized and sometimes idealized.

Often examined for deeper meaning

than just entertainment, black images on television

changed the performers and the viewers by illuminating

the funny, dramatic and musical soul of America.

- You wouldn't be able to talk about American culture

without talking about many of these African American figures

you couldn't talk about popular culture in my mind

without talking about Louis Armstrong for instance.

You couldn't talk about the idea of being hip or cool

without talking about Duke Ellington and Miles Davis

you know so we have to recognize this.

(radio static buzzes)

- [Narrator] In the 30s and 40s, radio ruled the airwaves

and the excitement of hearing live bands,

radio dramas and comedies brought families together

to sit and listen, soon it would to gather and watch.

- There was no such thing as television

and radio we'd sit around when I was a kid

and we'd listen to Amos 'n Andy

and we'd listen to all these shows and Beulah,

and all these people were white because it was economical.

They didn't want to hire blacks.

You have to be remember this.

- [Announcer] You will find that you are tuned in

on today and focus on tomorrow.

- [Narrator] Go back when television was only

black and white, ask people of a certain age.

They can pinpoint the very first person of color

they saw on those tiny 12 inch screens.

- Ike, come in come in quick, there's a black on TV.

There's somebody black on television.

- When we would see any kind of black person

doing anything on television, hey here's one,

come here, come here, come here, oh it's gone,

oh please who was it, I don't know know it was too fast.

- I was really struck by William Marshall,

Lena Horn, Rochester.

♪ Life's full of consequence ♪

♪ But who's scared of consequence ♪

- And of course we're talking about and Ethel Waters.

♪ Am I blue ♪

- Ethel Waters and Louise Beavers on the Beulah Show

and it was like a moment, of course we all

gathered around the TV because the Beulah Show was on.

- Beulah and I think it might have been

Louise Beavers who played her.

- Well I like that.

♪ Unforgettable ♪

- The first person of color that I saw on television

was probably Nat King Cole.

♪ Little girl, you're the one girl for me ♪

♪ Little girl ♪

- Nat Cole, my vivid recollection was Nat Cole,

because he was like one of the black guys,

he was the only black guy on television.

♪ Pretend you're happy when you're blue ♪

And he did things that you just dreamt of doing,

so the fact that he was there proved that you could do it.

♪ Just you ♪

♪ Just me ♪

(trumpet fanfare music) (crowd claps)

- Buckwheat from the Our Gang series, Little Rascals.

- Wow, I think we're going back to the days

where you had to wait till that tube heated up

for the television to work, but I think my first memories

of ever seeing blacks on television were The Little Rascals

Our Gang with Buckwheat and Cotton and the little boy

whose name was Stymie who never said a word.

He wore that hat and a suit

and what I later learned in life

was that they edited out a lot of what he said

because they felt that Stymie was too articulate

and I think that that really had an impact on me

as I got older and became a running her mouth

kind of girl on TV that nobody would stymie me.

I'm not gonna be stymied.

- And away we go!

- Sammy Davis Jr. and I think it was probably

an appearance on a variety show,

you know it's such a thrill I really mean this

and it's kind of an opportunity for me too

ladies and gentleman. - Well Sammy Davis Jr.

was the first black cowboy on TV.

- Sammy Davis was woo, I mean he was with the

Will Mastin Trio, he and his dad and his uncle.

♪ This is the place where we first met ♪

I saw them on Ed Sullivan for the first time

and he was awesome I mean he did those impressions.

- Ah, gee you don't have to get excited,

if I could have to and I'm only out here trying to find--

(crowd laughs and claps)

- He danced and he sang. (boisterous jazz music)

♪ And she was blue note ♪

(boisterous drum music)

He was probably the most versatile complete entertainer

that I had ever seen, he was just wonderful.

♪ And then they loose step ♪

- It was that image that cemented itself

indelibly in my brain as a pattern for which

I would then go on to pattern my own style of entertaining,

by that I mean one who really did dramatic acting,

really did the comedy, really danced,

who could really sing and do it with the best

that was considered to be the best in the business.

- Her second birthday, she's blowing out the candles

on her cake. - Esther Rolle, Good Times.

She was Florida Evans.

- Morgan Freeman on The Electric Company.

- Oh boy, I remember and I loved her too

Diahann Carole, Julia, I mean I thought she was gorgeous.

- [Announcer] Network television out of the laboratory

and into your living room to provide the greatest medium

of mass information and mass entertainment in the world.

- I did grow up on TV, I mean as much as my parents

would hate for me to say that

and I have very vivid memories of television.

- There's one incident that sticks in my mind

and the caveat is I'll never know if it was

a person of color, but it happened in the early 60s

and my mother and I were watching a television commercial

and there was a woman playing a housewife

and she was mopping the floor

and my mother and I looked at each other

with that kind of knowing wink that you know

she's black or she's a negro, we were certain of it.

- I know the names of every black person

that was on television between like 1950 up to 1980

because these were all the marks, the benchmarks.

♪ You'll miss me honey when I'm away ♪

- [Narrator] While the black image was first

seen in variety shows, soon comedy inched its way

from film, theater and radio onto the television screen.

- Well I can't say I never told you now,

leaving somebody here with all this stuff,

I bet you're gonna blame me for it.

- There's this old black comedy tradition,

Stepin Fetchit in my mind started it

and you could even go back to Burt Williams

and old minstrel tradition if you wanted to.

You know it's physical comedy.

Eyes rolling, grinning, as I like to say

people scratching when they don't itch,

people laughing when things aren't funny.

I think Burt Williams was in a cramp you know,

I mean the average black person alive

during the time of Burt Williams

couldn't get a drink of water.

You know what I'm saying?

This dude's making a living,

albeit in a very degrading manner,

but he's making a living and people know him

and he has recognition, but when he takes that face off

he's just another nigger and I'm sure he knew that

as well as the people around him.

I mean Rochester went through the same thing.

- Do I look as pale as I feel?

- Stepin Fetchit went through the same thing.

- Where are you going stranger?

- You scare somebody stiff like that.

I'm looking for hillbillies, is you one?

- I ain't saying I am, but I'm saying I ain't.

- Well that's close enough for me

because I'm tired of walking myself.

- Stepin Fetchit had 22 cars and all these servants

and fur coats and all you know people want to talk about

bling bling like go deal with Stepin Fetchit.

He was the original ghetto fabulous.

But he was a guy who when he goes home

and he's not going home to you know

to live next door to Jack Bennett,

you know what I'm saying?

When he goes home, when he has to go back to

where every other black person has to be, different story.

It's really hard you know to go in front of all these

white people and make them laugh by pandering to these

racist stereotypes and then have to go home

and look at yourself in the mirror

or to then be relegated to second class citizenry

in the same way that every other black person

at the time is relegated to be a second class citizen,

so it's a bit of a disconnect.

(dramatic music) (glass shatters)

- Willie? - Yes sir.

- I'll be gone for a little while.

A Mr. Lynn Dale will call, you take the message

and be sure and get it right.

- Oh yes sir.

- At that particular time Willie Best

and Ethel Waters.

♪ Can't forget your troubles ♪

♪ When you're thinking what they are ♪

And Louise Beavers.

- Never let the seeds stop you

from enjoying the watermelons.

- So what if you've got a watermelon.

- You mustn't say that Ms. Mason.

You've got your watermelon, but you choked yourself up

on all those little seeds, I always say spit them out.

Spit them out so you taste watermelon.

- It was kind of like a small group of black folks

that appeared over and over and over again

in various films and television shows and they were it,

but at least we could see them on a regular basis

on those television shows and they weren't any place else.

- Mr. Irving's place.

New York?

Can you hear me?

- We're in commercials, you just didn't see

them anywhere else and so whenever there was

somebody black on TV, it was like

everybody got called into the room.

Come on, see the black person,

of course we didn't say black in those days.

Colored people on TV or Negros on TV, you know,

whatever, but we made sure we were gonna go see it, yeah.

- But baby. - Think it over.

- And it was a joy just to it's like wow, we're there.

You know we're there and I don't think anybody said

that at that time, it was really kind of more unspoken.

And there was a pride you know that we were there

and we were represented.

- [Narrator] Early TV was a gamble in any color,

so risk takers turned to proven money makers.

Hit radio shows like Beulah and Amos 'n Andy,

TV's Beulah debuted in 1950.

Three of Hollywood's mammie actresses played the lead,

Louise Beavers, Haddie McDaniel--

- This is Beulah, you're all around gal.

(laughs) I'm the same size all around.

- And Ethel Waters. - Hi Beulah.

- [Narrator] Beulah didn't seem to have

a life of her own, she was the true stereotype.

Happy, overweight, cheerfully solving the problems

of the white family in her care.

- And don't you eat those cookies before

you eat your sandwiches. - I won't.

I owe Rusty Levinson two plain and two raisin

from yesterday and I always like to pay my debts promptly.

- You know it kept me in mind of this domestic,

the woman who really took care of the household,

so it gave me an image of the black woman as the person

who actually took care of the household

and was a smart woman again who answered

a lot of questions that needed to be answered

in that particular household.

- [Narrator] Beulah was too offensive,

said image aware watchdog groups, their protests

forced the network to cancel the series.

- You know Beulah I think that dress needs a pin

or something, let me get you mine.

- Oh no, Miss Alice, I don't want to wear

your good jewelry. - Oh don't be silly,

it's just costume stuff, I'll get it for you.

- Oh, you're so sweet.

- [Narrator] The most listened to radio show

of the 30s and 40s took place in an all black world

of Amos 'n Andy, most of the cast was black,

but series creators Freeman Gosden

and Charles Correll were not.

- Can I have a little now please?

- Okay Mike, Andy's right here like this

and Andy say, "Who scared me, ha ha ha, a little."

- Mr. Garden, may I have a check from you now sir?

- And then we have Amos, Amos about here Mike,

how's the balance on Amos?

- [Narrator] So for television they began

a long search for black actors to play the title roles.

- This fellow Spencer Williams actually comes to life

as Andrew H. Brown and I venture to say

that three or four seconds after you see him,

you will always think of him when you think of Andy,

and to prove what I'm talking about here he is,

Andrew H. Brown. (audience claps and laughs)

- Hello. (audience claps and laughs)

- And this next character we were a long time finding,

because the Kingfish is really somebody,

he's a fellow that has to have a twinkle in his eye,

a smile on his face and a sort of a devil in his heart.

The brother who is always looking out after his brothers,

but first and last after himself.

(audience laughs) Now when this fellow comes out

and when he's on television I think you'll realize

that this really is the Kingfish.

In fact, we predict that all of the characters we have

when you see them in the television film,

they'll all come to life in front of your eyes.

So ladies and gentleman, here he is,

Tim Moore, the man that plays the part of George Stevens,

Kingfish of the lodge.

(audience claps)

- Don't forget, we is all brothers

in that great fraternity, the Mystic Knights of the Seed.

(audience claps and laughs)

- Now ladies and gentleman, we would like to thank our cast

for coming down here and making this personal appearance

so that you could meet them before you see them

in the television show, so without further ado,

we would like to say let's put on the Amos 'n Andy Show

and we hope you enjoy it.

- [Narrator] Beginning in 1951, Amos 'n Andy

brought laughter, scheming and confusion

into everyone's living rooms.

It was wildly popular, but it made some

African Americans uncomfortable.

- Kingfish, if you don't give me my money back,

I'm gonna punch you in each eye,

then I'm gonna punch you in the mouth,

then I'm gonna take a stick and crack your head.

In other words, I'm gonna open everything that's closed

and close everything that's opened.

- Our household didn't put that very high

on the list of shows to be watched.

It was

mentionable, noteworthy that blacks

were on television and that was a good thing,

but that particular show we had to watch

with a certain amount of reserve in my household.

- Amos, would you believe me if I told you

I was doing this to keep our old friend Andy

from going to jail?

- No.

- Well when I want your opinion I'll ask for it.

- I got a call from the producers of the show

asking me would I play a part on the show?

And I explained to him in no uncertain terms

I don't do that type of stereotype roles

and you have the wrong person

and ooh I really, really went through it.

Well to make a long story short, I did the role

because he showed me something then

that they were doing on Amos 'n Andy

that they're not doing today

and that was for Andy

you had a counterpart over here,

for Andy, you had an attorney.

- Now would you mind telling the court

under just what circumstances you met the defendant?

- Well, about 18 years ago at a carnival.

I reached in my pocket to get my wallet

and shook hands with Mr. Steven.

(audience laughs)

- Good heavens.

- For Madam Queen, you had a nurse or a female doctor.

- Hello folks. - For Amos,

who was a cab driver, who appeared to be a pound,

you had a psychiatrist, you had a counterpart

to balance it out, I did I think four or five

Amos 'n Andy shows and I always played the part

of a judge, a lawyer, a doctor, a college professor.

- Anybody who looks at Amos 'n Andy and thinks

that this portrays black people is an idiot.

We walk the streets, you'll see black doctors,

you'll see black lawyers if you go into

an office building

we are not that

and it's obvious that we are not that.

This is comedy, there's no Superman.

Anybody who thinks who runs and jumps off a building

thinking he could fly is just as stupid as that person

as that person who has that ideology about Amos 'n Andy.

They are just funny characters employing Ebonics

before Ebonics ever came along.

- If this trouble's with my eyes,

how come I gotta take my pants off?

- That's a secret of obstrecity, so don't argue

with the obstrecitor. - If you look at it

as it was, it was a TV show, a comedy, a sitcom

and that's all. - I did like Amos 'n Andy.

I did and I'll tell you why

because you have you know Kingfish was doing his schemes

and all that stuff, however--

- Hi Kingfish! - There were lawyers,

they were cab drivers, it helped people to work

at a time when there wasn't a lot of work.

- [Narrator] The NAACP urged CBS to develop programming

that presented a black world not so stereotypical.

Instead, the network chose to cancel Amos 'n Andy,

the funny men went off the air and out on tour.

(upbeat music) (audience laughing)

- I thought they were hilarious

and in fact, after the TV show, they went on the road

and they had my mother play Sapphire on tour.

So I got a chance to see them rehearse in my living room

and it was a gas, they were wonderful.

- [Narrator] Canceled or not, the series continued

in syndication until 1966, it still sells briskly

in VHS and DVD formats living viewers safe at home

to chuckle out loud at the Kingfish, Calhoun and Sapphire.

- My daddy, who grew up in the south, which is

where I'm from, he used to tell me about Amos 'n Andy,

never knew what he was talking about.

Then they put out this video collection

of Amos 'n Andy and I watched it and yes,

I thought it was funny, especially for the time.

- You see this head here of mine?

Well there's a lot of ideas growing in that head.

- Well if it's what's growing on the top is any sign

of what's growing inside, it must be pretty bad.

- Can you do that now, should you?

Yeah, no, but was it funny especially for the time?

Yes, it was, it was ridiculous, it was very ripe

if I might with satire I think it's hilarious.

People don't want to see that now and rightfully so.

- It says here no collateral, no cosigner.

Well I ain't got none of that stuff,

so I'm in good shape there.

- And I was quite pissed off when Amos 'n Andy

was taken off of television, but we have certain

organizations when they run out of things to do

they lose jobs for us.

At one time they called it black exploitation.

It was not black exploitation.

It was black employment.

- [Narrator] Once again, Tarzan's war cry

rings through the African jungle,

a daring challenge to the ominous rhythm of battle drums.

- They griped about Tarzan, I didn't give a damn

if a white boy took over the jungle.

They hired lots of black people.

I don't care if they ooga boogaed all across

Warner Bros. or whoever filmed Tarzan,

but I was happy to see a bunch of black people working.

♪ Oh the Lord isn't well ♪

- [Narrator] Appearances on religious or cultural programs

seemed to fly under the radar of the watchdog groups.

- Lamp Unto my Feet, Look Up and Live,

a woman named Pamela Ailett was the producer.

We would have music composed I mean for those ballets

which were based on the Bible, so I've done all the ladies

Mary to Bathsheba and the Witch of Endor

and all those great ladies, great fun.

- [Narrator] 50s television included variety shows,

which occasionally featured black entertainers,

Duke Ellington, (calm jazz music)

Cab Calloway,

♪ Now here's a very interesting phrase ♪

♪ It will put you in a daze ♪

Paul Robeson.

- You have just an audience with the Emperor Jones.

- [Narrator] Ella Fitzgerald.

♪ Please stop, sweetie, sweetie, ♪

♪ But be discrete ♪

- Right. - Sara Vaughan

and others appeared on shows with veteran white hosts

such as Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle and Steve Allen.

(calm pop music)

(boisterous pop music)

Ray Charles and Mahalia Jackson both had regional TV shows,

but the first national show was hosted by Nat King Cole

and featured both white and black entertainers,

from Pearl Bailey to George Shearing.

It was a great source of pride for African American viewers.

- Thank you very much and thanks for being with us again.

This next song I'd like to do is moving up very rapidly

on the popular charts.

♪ I'll put a ring around my rosy ♪

- [Man] Billy Daniels, the band leader had his own show.

♪ Because that darn baby is mine ♪

- But those shows could not go national,

they could not go national because parts of the country,

not just the south or the former Dixie,

but parts of the country would not run the shows

and sponsors would not back the shows.

So that by the late 50s those attempts were over

and you saw African Americans really in subservient roles

servants, occasional criminals.

Certainly the networks and the advertising

who sponsored the show were

racist, prejudiced, bigoted, you choose.

♪ The coffee could be sweeter ♪

♪ But I'm not in the dumps ♪

♪ 'Cause every time she hugs me, ♪

♪ It's like two extra lumps ♪

Eddie Canter had the temerity not only to hug

Sammy Davis Jr. on television, but also Sammy was

sweating and he handed him his handkerchief

and there was an uproar, they actually almost pulled

Eddie Cantor off the air permanently because a Caucasian man

had given a man of color a handkerchief to use.

♪ Yes, thank your lucky stars, it's doing fine ♪

Dinah Shore hugged or put her arm around Mahalia Jackson

doing a duet on the Dinah Shore Chevrolet Show

and it started all those rumors again

that Dinah Shore was in fact a mulatto.

♪ And lovers walked beneath those trees ♪

♪ And birds found songs to sing ♪

Racism in television was very real.

- I think the saddest time I had on television,

when John Butler did a wonderful piece for Ed Sullivan Show,

I was dancing Willow Weep for May or something like that

and I was going to dance with Glen Tetley,

and Glen Tetley, I had been dancing with him all the time.

It was part of John Butler's company that we did

all those morning programs together, nobody said anything

about being of color or anything,

we just did what we did, but I could not dance

with Glen because he was white.

Now John Butler was in Greenwood, Mississippi

and his two main ladies in his company

were Mary Hinkson and myself.

He was told he could not use me at all.

We could not do this piece together.

John was like thunderstruck.

♪ Unchain my heart ♪

- [Narrator] Variety performance kept on singing.

(boisterous pop music)

Dancing.

(boisterous pop music)

♪ One more dance for the nice lady ♪

And waiting for change.

It came in the mid 60s from a government and a nurse.

- You really did not get a change from African Americans

playing either servants or musical performers until I Spy

in the mid 60s, in which Bill Cosby

was matched up with Robert Culp,

playing government agents, he was the scholar.

- We started looking at how cool Bill Cosby was in I Spy

and the fact that he was particularly for then

he was treated as somewhat of an equal.

- I thought one of the groundbreaking things about

Bill Cosby's participation in I Spy

was his portrayal as this

brilliant Rhodes Scholar individual

that is probably brighter than his partner

and was certainly a quantum leap from

some of the characterizations that had been

heretofore given to black actors.

(funky music)

And then a few years after that,

you got Julia with Diahann Carroll playing a nurse.

- She was the perfect black woman,

black white woman they thought I guess during that time,

but Julia her show was great.

And we needed to make that move, that change,

sort of bougie, but I liked it, I liked bourgeois,

along with some other things, it's good, it's healthy.

I thought it was like all the other shows that were on,

it was very up, it was positive, she had a child.

She was a single parent, right and she was doing well

and that was great for me, I enjoyed it.

- She couldn't do anything right, I mean you know

black folks criticized her because she was too fancy

or she spoke too well, or she wasn't really black you know

and white folks criticized her

because nobody lives like that or nobody acts like that

or whatever, I mean she just couldn't do anything right

and that was a lot of pressure on her,

but thank God she did it even for three seasons.

(calm flute music)

- [Narrator] This is the future starting to happen.

- And you got Room 222, something that's often overlooked,

but then you had Lloyd Haynes playing a history teacher.

- I'm a teacher, I'm here to teach,

but there's a regulation that says I can't teach this kid,

that he's got to go to Tyler and that's wrong,

because I know Tyler, I'm from Tyler.

And what they're doing there

isn't teaching, it's controlling.

- And Denise Nicholas playing a guidance counselor.

- I'm just doing what I have to do, Richie,

you've been doing so great lately, the top 10% of your class

I sent a letter home to your folks to let them know

how happy we were about it and it came back.

No such address.

You do live in this school district, don't you?

- Sure Liz McIntire all upper middle class,

touch all the bases, follow all the rules.

Yes sir, Mr. Kaufman we gonna kick Richie out.

- [Man] And the students were integrated

and they dealt with issues of race.

- I'm taking attendance. - What are you doing that for?

- Look, I don't want an argument,

are you here or not Avery?

- Well yeah I'm here.

- Jason Allen.

- Get yourself together baby, ain't it enough

you dress like the teacher?

- Jason Allen, here or not?

(laughs) Oh yes, Jason's here.

- Even the principal was Jewish.

- It's part of my civil service examination,

it said can you be a louse and I answered yes

and they made me a principal.

- They were going for ethnicity in that show.

- Ms. Jones is here to dry the area behind her ears.

She's gonna spend the rest of this semester

with you student teaching.

- I hope it's a meaningful semester for both of us.

- Just what you always wanted right?

Meaningful semester?

- It's very important that you and I

establish good human relations.

- Right. - I know I have a lot

of middle class hangups, I went to a segregated school.

- Oh, that's okay, so did I.

- So the breakthrough started to come in the late 60s.

(crowd cheering)

- [Narrator] Viewers caught a first glimpse

of their favorite musical performers on the most popular

variety shows of the era.

♪ Tonight you're mine completely ♪

♪ And you you're asking me, oh ♪

♪ Don't miss me Bill ♪

♪ No no no no ♪

- The first Motown act that we ever had Ed Sullivan

was of course The Supremes

and then we just lined up, I mean it's like a line of us

going to the Ed Sullivan Show.

♪ I've got this burning, burning, yearning feeling inside me ♪

The reason we started to call The Supremes

The Girls of Motown was because the first time

they were on there, Ed Sullivan introduced them.

He said, "And now we have from Detroit The Girls."

♪ Nothing but high, ooh ooh ooh ♪

But he couldn't think of their name.

And the first time we were on there

he said, "Now from Detroit from that Motown sound,

"we have Smokey and the Little Smokies."

(crowd cheering)

♪ Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah ♪

(laughs)

- I think The Temptations did the Ed Sullivan Show

around 1966 I believe.

♪ Laughed and turned the gray sky blue ♪

When knowledge of a black performer

was going to perform on Ed Sullivan or a show like that

at that time of course people really congregated

around the TV, there were people that didn't have a TV,

they would go to someone's house and watch.

And to show you how much of a part that television

in black performance played at that time,

we were booked to do a live show in Mississippi

and on that same night

♪ Unhappy man with all the powers at his hand ♪

the taped performance on Ed Sullivan was playing.

No one came to that show

because they thought that the show

would be a hoax because they said how can they be on

television and be here at this coliseum at the same time,

so the promoter literally lost his shirt because of that

simply because we were being shown

on Ed Sullivan that same night.

- [Narrator] More than music made a mark on TV viewers

in this decade of challenge and change.

- We will be any free by any means necessary.

- Black power means black dignity

just as surely as you're proud to be white,

we're proud to be black, black is beautiful baby.

It's pretty.

- [Narrator] It was civil rights.

Serious documentaries about rural poverty,

segregation and the growing movement started appearing.

News coverage of violent segregationist backlash

burned images of fire hoses, dogs and beatings

into the American psyche.

Thanks to TV, two black male figures rushed

to the forefront of American minds,

Dr. Martin Luther King was seen as saintly,

leading marches in Selma, Birmingham and Montgomery.

- I just want to do God's will

and he's allowed me to go up to the mountain

and I've looked over and I've seen the promised land.

I may not get there with you,

but I want you to know tonight

that we as a people will get to the promised land.

- [Narrator] Conversely, the stance and religion

of Malcolm X struck fear in the hearts of viewers.

- And it goes back to growing up in Iowa.

I would say that for me the national coverage

of the civil rights movement in the early 60s

was in many ways that and the print media

how I as a child participated.

I would say it was different from my parents,

because I can remember for instance my father

being photographed picketing a Greyhound bus station,

but as a child I lived the civil rights movement

through those television images.

- I grew up in Winston, Salem and 30 miles away

was Greensborough where the Woolworth sit-ins happened

and there was a lot of activity going on down south

and my parents were trying to help me understand that

and at the same time try to shelter from the types

of things that little black girls had

to go through in the 60s

and I think that television was the thing that let us know

that in our struggle to be equal that we weren't alone

that that television was a way of

bringing in the entire nation

and the world into my living room

and letting me know that I counted,

that there were people out there fighting for my rights,

and that made me at least

it made me in a very young age realize

the power that television had,

the images that it makes on lives and impressions,

the power that it gives a little girl from North Carolina

to believe that there's a nation out there

believing that you're equal too.

And you know something little girl,

there might not be any black anchor women on TV today,

but you're gonna be one.

And that kind of image, that let me know

the power of that medium and that's why I love television.

- [Narrator] By the 70s the entire world

was beginning to count on television for a significant

part of its entertainment.

America fell in love with two very funny black men

as the 70s began and soon Redd Foxx and Flip Wilson

were soon standing on top of the world.

- Flip Wilson is entertaining, yeah.

Flip Wilson when I saw him do Geraldine,

I hooped, there was no cussing,

but just that character and the nerve of this man

to dress in as we know today drag and be comfortable with it

and be hilarious, it was brilliant.

See back then we didn't know any better.

At least I didn't, I didn't know I was like

is that a man, that's Flip Wilson.

How brilliant was that.

See back then I think maybe black comedians

someone said can you believe

he is putting this damn dress on?

But then when they saw his ratings and the dollar signs,

oh putting a dress on is not so bad.

(funky jazz music)

- I like The Flip Wilson Show and the reason why I liked it

is because it was this black man on TV

who was actually in control of his own show

and that and when you're in control of your own,

you tend to look out for your folks.

He brought in the black artists to be a part of his show,

you know and that was wonderful.

I saw a power, a sense of power and a sense of control

in Flip and his production.

- The funniest person ever on television

I think was Redd Foxx.

(funky 70s music)

He was very honest and I think

if they had allowed him to cuss, he would have.

Just his facial expressions, he didn't even

have to open his mouth and that's what makes

a great comedian without saying a word

and you still have people just crying.

He was the funniest person on television.

(funky jazz music)

- This has been a nerve-shattering experience for me, sir.

I'd like to go home.

- Richard Pryor and I got our Writer's Guild cards together,

writing for Sanford and Son.

(funky 70s music)

And Richard couldn't take the grind of every day,

so he quit, so I stayed on,

but a black comedy writer was something that was on the moon

it was unheard of, they had mostly white men

who grew up with the black people who knew black people

writing for black shows.

I will hear that expression, it would always bother me,

it would hurt my ears, because every script I ever wrote

for Sanford and Son, Redd Foxx and those black actors

the minute they picked that script up,

they knew I had, they knew I had written it.

(funky jazz music)

I grew up with Redd Foxx so I was a big fan of his

and he loved Richard and Richard Pryor loved him,

so it was like family, it was easy.

(funky 70s music)

(calm jazz music)

- [Narrator] Being black in entertainment

means being part of a very small family,

inside an awful hostile larger world,

but African American performers today

from the celebrated to the unknown understand

with each step they take they stand on the shoulders

of those who came before them.

- It's so vital that there were so many nameless

and faceless individuals who really, really paid

ferocious dues for those who we came to know

like the James Edwards in Home of the Brave,

Mr. Sidney Poitier in No Way Out,

of course Ethel Waters and Louise Beavers

and Mr. Ernest Whitman, Freddie Washington,

Laurence Criner, Alex Lovejoy, many of the Lafayette players

these individuals were so germane to our success

and they carried us through and they took the parts

that they had no option to take,

because they wanted to work, they were artists

and they paid dues and people like to go back

and reference Lincoln Perry, Mr. Stepin Fetchit,

which was a character not the man,

people like to reference him

as some sort of pejorative notion,

but we are not that far removed with a lot of the young

people in what they are doing today.

I mean we used to have a time, certainly during

the time when my early maturation in the 70s

and we would look at variety shows

and we would see Mr. Sammy Davis Jr.

We would see Diahann Carroll, we would see Leslie Adams,

Mr. Poiter, Mr. Bellafonte, we'd see Pearl Bailey.

We'd see all new Lena Horn, these great artists

and every single time they hit the stage,

we were proud because they brought

such a usable consciousness and a magnificent

sense of dignity and huge artistry to the moment

that we are all proud and we were made better

each time they took the stage.

- I would say Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Cicely Tyson,

Sidney Poitier, Harry Bellafonte,

you know just all these really incredible people

that without them we probably would not be here

to go through all the hard knocks

and the struggles that they had to endure

for me to be here I know that.

- The public doesn't get that there is

sort of an unspoken fraternity and comradery

that goes along with being in this business

that exists, they see us in competition a lot

because the business is structured that way,

you have charts that who's number one, who's this,

who's that, who's best box office, who's this

and it looks as if it is somewhat competitive

and on a certain level I guess that it is,

but on a much deeper level as artists

we all share a certain kind of understanding

about what we're going through

and particularly as African American artists

that we are part of something that is bigger

than just the work that we're doing

and we try to support each other.

- It takes an entire community to protect and nurture

this thing called entertainment

and called images of us.

(calm jazz music)

- [Narrator] The first years of television in black

paralleled the growth of the nation.

Mammie and Dixon buffoonery changed into civil rights

and strong looks at history,

but television had to wait many more years

for equal opportunity, laughter and tears.

(calm jazz music)

- Oh yeah, the black presence on TV

has changed America forever.

Just start subtracting black from TV

and then you tell me.

Think of TV without In Living Color,

think of Saturday Night Live without Eddie Murphy.

Think of television without Flip Wilson.

Let's start subtracting,

let's think of TV without Bill Cosby

or Fat Albert and His Boys,

think of TV music without Quincy's themes, Mod Squad.

(funky music)

The Bill Cosby Show.

- What are you gonna do for us this evening,

are you gonna sing or are you gonna play the xylophone?

- Sanford and Son.

Think of TV without Redd Foxx.

Think of TV without George Jefferson,

think of TV without Good Times

and then what you got?

You know what do you got then?

(voice echoes)

- [Announcer] From the primitive rock crystal

of yesterday's radio is the crystal ball of television,

in which is visible a whole new era of communication.

(calm jazz music)

- [Narrator] Technology progressed at breakneck speed

during the first 50 years of television,

but did societies attitudes change as fast?

Black characterizations and concepts

seemed to move at a snail's pace.

- Huh?

- [Narrator] Looking back at the last 20 years

of the 20th century, comedy seemed to be

the comfort genre for television in black.

- Comedy is fun because it makes people laugh.

There's enough sad things.

- Hey, you want to see some nice pictures?

- [Narrator] The changing voice in television comedy

was Bill Cosby in his very first comedy series,

he played gym teacher Chet Kincaid.

- And everybody in this gymnasium at the time

when we start the tryouts is gonna be given a fair chance,

even the little guys.

- Mr. Bill Cosby, that first one that when he did

gym, hit the bod, that whole.

- We can win against Jefferson High School

in two weeks, you'll see and if we don't beat them.

- What? - Well, I'll just

walk right into the mouth of a hippopotamus.

- See you at the zoo. - Ha ha ha.

- In the history of our country, in terms of entertainment

there's always been someone at the top of the heap

that was black with respect to comedy.

- [Narrator] At the top of that heap

were Redd Foxx, Flip Wilson and Bill Cosby,

but from the bottom came a bigot

to hand out some real life truths.

His name was Archie Bunker,

an unrepentant racist and homophobe.

- I've been thinking--

- Don't do no more of that.

- Oh, look at this, you've got him on his lap already.

You'll be churning out homie through a massage parlor.

- [Narrator] Even though All in the Family

was criticized as being too bold,

it was an important move toward realism.

- You know what I like about you Archie?

- What's that Maude?

- Nothing. (audience laughs)

- But it was honest.

And that's what I appreciate about it.

It was an honest show.

I think sometimes we get so into

we want to be politically correct,

oh no, you can't put a racist on TV,

it's honest, it's what it was,

it's who that character was.

I appreciate it, even as a child, I thought it was funny.

- I mean nothing personal, but you know a guy

could go broke just buying wedding presents

for your side of the family.

- And still fighting mental health.

- I was like oh, he was wild.

And then when they introduced George Jefferson,

that just put the icing on the cake for me,

like oh ho, somebody's firing back.

- It's part of black heritage it's called hutzpah.

(audience laughs)

- Hutzpah, that's a Jewish word.

- So was ghetto till we got a hold of.

- Hi daddy!

- Yes, of course everyone watched All in the Family

and All in the Family was a wonderful TV show

and it was so raw and so real that the lead character

was a bigot you know and he had to introduce

black people into that in order for his character

to be his character and Carroll O'Connor who was

one of the greatest actors ever in life

pulled it off wonderfully, you know

and so yeah, All in the Family was the first show

that I remember that came right down front with it.

- The sitcoms became even more buffoonish.

A good example of that is Good Times,

♪ Good Times ♪

which was a spinoff of Maude,

a semi-spinoff of Maude, the first series

on television created by African Americans,

Eric Monte and Michael Evans and it's interesting

that both of them walked out of the show

after a year because they just couldn't take it.

- Where is all the food in this refrigerator?

There ain't nothing in here, but some cold lamb

and a lonesome leg bone.

- It's also fitting that when interviews

are done about Good Times, which is about

the life of African American family in the projects

of Chicago when interviews are done the cast members

are embarrassed to have been involved with it,

the African American writers are embarrassed

to have been involved with it and then they talk

to the Caucasian producers and they say

we were doing this breakthrough show.

So was it a breakthrough?

Well maybe for some people.

Was it embarrassing?

Apparently for others.

- You wouldn't do that to Henry Kissinger.

- Henry ain't got what you got.

- I thought Good Times was very funny.

I thought that at that time it was very honest.

At that time,

I'm not gonna say all, but a large percentage

of black people could relate to that show.

Me personally, I've always lived in the suburbs,

always had both parents, they always had great jobs.

We very middle class, upper middle class family,

but it was very funny, it was entertaining,

I enjoyed it, I loved JJ, I loved Velma,

I loved seeing this black teenage who was hip and funky

and was just a glamour doll.

I loved that, I said wow and I had a older sister

who I was like ooh I see her wear her makeup and her clothes

do that it was entertaining.

Like I didn't look at it and say,

oh, I can't believe they put these niggers on TV

and look how they acted, no.

- It's gonna be fun all we need now is an

Indian and Chinamen and we make up a rainbow.

- The Jeffersons followed that.

Now here you have a character that was supposed

to be the flip side of Archie Bunker,

the character of George Jefferson.

He was an African American who was financially successful.

He had a chain of drying cleaning stores.

Was it buffoonish?

You decide.

- I started out as a guest on the very first show

and I had the line how come we overcame and nobody told me?

How come we overcame and nobody told me?

They got such a big laugh that they decided

to write something else for me,

but I wasn't in that show,

and I wasn't expected to be in that show.

I did the fifth show and then they wrote something else

and I came back on the eighth show

and then they offered me a contract.

- I've decided to back Conroy instead.

He's the better man.

- I should have known.

- What was funny about it was the fact that George Jefferson

was the black Archie Bunker

and plus George Jefferson was he always wanted to be

really hip you know (laughs)

in the know and all that

and I just think that Sherman played

a wonderful George Jefferson

and everybody on the show was great.

Everybody played their character so great.

- Well I think The Jeffersons represented

a cross section of society,

you had me for the masses of people who worked at a job

and who has a boss, they have a boss

and they like to tell that boss off sometimes,

but they can't, because they might get fired.

And then you have Ralph the Doorman,

played by Ned Waterman and he represented

all the people who worked for tips.

And then we had the Willises

and that was an interracial marriage,

people always wanted to know what goes on there,

so we got a chance to peep in and see that relationship.

Then we had Mother Jefferson who was Zara Cully,

so the seniors really related to what she did.

So she picked up all the things like social security

problems and all of that.

Then you have The Jeffersons, without benefit of education,

they became a success, so we had something for everybody.

- Here's a vivid moment I remember,

this happened in The Jeffersons.

Moses Gunn the great actor and Sherman Hensley

had a scene where Moses Gunn was the interloper

and he was getting on George Jefferson's nerves

and George Jefferson they started to fight

and the two men had gotten to the point

where their fists were cocked

and drawn back and Moses Gunn and I don't know

if this was scripted, but he says to George Jefferson,

you know, you know, tight fists pulled back

ready to hit him, "Nigger!"

And I had was like again I was blown away,

because it was so authentic, I knew it was real.

I knew it was real

and something told me but that wasn't supposed to be said.

You know that was vivid.

- [Announcer] The following program

is brought to you in living color on NBC.

- [Narrator] Television comedy then took another route

as stand up comedian Richard Pryor got his own show,

resulting in a firestorm of controversy.

- NBC loved Richard.

It gave them new blood, they were alive,

all the executives would come down.

I mean every day there was a new surprise.

- Saturday night, they always call it nigger night,

because white folks go out about eight and leave

and go home at 10:00, and leave it to the niggers

because it gets thick.

- Those execs, now they had Richard.

They had something to worry about,

something to bother them,

something to let you know that they had a job.

- You can eat 24 hours a day in America.

I said yes, you got some money or a pistol,

you can get something to eat.

- They loved every second of it.

It was Richard that quit, not them.

They were fascinated with Richard.

He was breaking all the rules.

People used to stand around

and watch our show like it was church.

When The Richard Pryor Show when those specials came on

people in bars people were standing

they were loving it, they'd never seen anything like it,

you know this is the mother of In Living Color

and the rest of those shows.

We did a special and about six, seven episodes,

they're all classics now.

If you watch them now, they're very funny now.

- You got any reefer?

Knowing he was cool and he was clean.

You got any reefer bro?

You know I used to practice at home,

try to get my shit together,

you got any reefer, in front of the man,

you got any reefer, you got any reefer?

I'd ask anybody cops I'd be like you got any reefer?

Sure have young fellow right this way.

- When you write something that deals with the truth

and it's earnest and it's political and social,

it lasts forever you know.

- Right the cops always pull up,

put your hands up white boy (screams)

I didn't do nothing!

Put your hands against the wall!

There ain't no wall.

Find one.

- Brilliant.

Brilliant.

I'm saddened to see his physical ability

and his health be where it is,

but he was brilliant, and you know what

I love those guys, because they didn't change.

They didn't do what somebody else said you should do.

They did what they felt was right in their heart.

- My neighborhood didn't have no candy stores in it,

right, there was a lot of whorehouses.

That's right man like you could walk down my street

and you say hey your mother is a whore right,

20 dudes go huh, who you talking about?

- It's about using comedy the way Richard Pryor

used comedy, you know as intelligence

to take some of the things in society

that are really negative and hard to deal with

and making people laugh about them,

but in laughing about them, think about it.

I saw Richard Pryor many times walk into a room

and he was probably high,

but that was his thing,

that that was where his edge came from

and just alienated everybody in the room

and before that show was over, they were eating

out of the palm of his hands.

The man was a true genius.

- Come on, get down, baby, push me, push me again now.

♪ What you see ♪

♪ Is what you get ♪

- [Narrator] As both black television

and the 1970s progressed America finally experienced

a black drama with the miniseries Roots.

- [Announcer] January 1977, America shared with

Alex Haley the saga of his family's roots.

- Hear me oh African. - Aired over eight nights

in 1977, Roots became a television event,

not only for African Americans, but for all Americans

and the program attracted an estimated

130 million viewers becoming

the highest rated miniseries ever.

It still holds that record.

- But Roots was it was a phenomenon.

However, I don't know if it changed television.

I don't know if it did you know.

There were wonderful performances,

but I don't know if all of a sudden

we were everywhere,

because the kind of ratings and the kind of numbers

that Roots got we should have been everywhere afterwards.

- [Narrator] Although hundreds of millions of viewers

did tune in to Roots, comedy still seemed

the favorite vehicle for African American on television.

Many still wonder what it is about the comical

stereotypes that capture the nation

in a cultural stronghold.

- One of the greatest tragedies is when

a community who ultimately cares very little

about you has complete control over

the image of your community

and they show so little regard for us,

but ultimately it's what is our responsibility.

But you see you have so many of us

that will sell that out, you have so many of us

that's willing to be the buffoons.

- We get a lot of criticism for The Parkers, a lot,

I've had people e-mail me and say,

I can't believe you're doing that buffoonery.

What's buffoonery about that?

It's two black women both in college,

there's a black man who's a professor, what's buffoonery?

Yes, Nicki Parker is very physical.

Lucille Ball was very physical.

(audience laughs)

Did they e-mail her and say it was buffoonery?

They said she was a genius and she was funny.

So I take that with a grain of salt, I brush it right away.

- I know what you're thinking, you see Foggie and Beth?

We can make it baby, me and you.

- I look at Eddie Murphy and I see

the ghost of Mantan Moreland or Stepin Fetchit

or Rochester, Willie Bess.

These people's image back in the day

were some of the only black images you saw on film

and a lot of people maybe embraced them

because they wanted these images as opposed

to no images, but the legacy they left behind

many of these modern day comics have picked up on

and it's more about you know being funny

and getting a laugh at any expense

than it is about intelligence or wit.

- Did you know that every seven minutes

a black person is born in this country without soul?

♪ Tiger yellow ringing around the old old tree ♪

- I just think that there's room for all kinds

of humor without having to put a judgment on

you know what's acceptable and what's not acceptable.

- See you at the zoo. - Ha ha ha.

- I think what's hard is when there's not a balance.

- You have so many of us that's willing to

perpetuate the negative stereotypes

that have been perpetuated for so long,

so when we start seemingly making progress

we don't shift into another gear and say

now it's time to make even more demands

and to be even more unified.

We don't have that.

- We as African American people

we're so critical of each other,

like remember the sitcom Homeboys from Outer Space?

And everybody said oh my God that is just

such a disgrace to the race, anybody would have taken

that part and I don't fault Flex,

and I said Flex, do your job we're actors

and that's what you were paid to do.

To act, did it go a little over the top?

Of course it did, that's what comedies do,

we go over the top.

Friends live in New York and don't lock their door.

That's over the top.

Seinfeld lives in New York, doesn't lock his door.

That's over the top.

On Drew Carey, Minnie wears light blue eyeshadow

and big muumuus that's over the top.

That's what we do, that's what we do

so I am like why are we so critical?

Why are we picking it apart for a fine tooth comb?

For 30 minutes, my job is to make you laugh.

(calm jazz music)

- [Narrator] The black images on television

in comedy, drama, sports, news and variety

have always inspired young hopefuls

with dreams of their own.

- I remember watching Cos on I Spy

with Robert Culp and saying now

that's the kind of role I want to do.

And then for him to win the Emmys

and win the recognition that he did,

to take that opportunity to do so well with it

was really I think just groundbreaking

and opened up a lot of doors.

- I can remember sitting in

our apartment in Harlem as a little girl

watching award shows and thinking one day

I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna go up there

and I'm gonna get an award and I have a vivid recollection

of that so I must have been like six.

- Muhhamad Ali fought Joe Frazier

and it was a such a significant fight

because Joe was the guy.

Because Ali he was

going through a hiatus I would say

and they fought and when Joe Frazier knocked him down

to win that fight there it just

it stuck in my mind for many, many years

because Muhhamad Ali to me was the best

because he talked trash and he was pretty.

Ali was a prime model that mold I wanted to be born from.

- This brainwashing the Negroes see,

then he goes to the drug store

he orders two different ice cream,

he says I want a different chocolate,

a different vanilla and every time

they put the chocolate on the bottom

and the vanilla on the top.

- What he brought to the ring was entertainment,

not just fisticuffs, not just guys boxing each other,

he brought style, grace, beauty to the ring.

Outside the ring he was able to

grab the public's imagination to show them

that black is beautiful, that black is strong

that black is wonderful.

- Every day you got a headache with Negro

that has been brainwashed by your kind

so now it's our job to re-brainwash him

to teach him that rich dirt is black dirt,

don't feel bad, strong confidence is black confidence,

you understand, you make them re-integrated

with black folks, you know what I'm saying?

So now he feels proud,

now he's not begging no more.

Now he wants to be himself, he's not worrying you

no more so he needs some black history

and he needs some black culture

so he'll know who he is and be proud

to be who he is and quit worrying you so much.

♪ Oh wherever my man is ♪

♪ I'm here ♪

- Diana Ross, Diana Ross, it was Lady Sings the Blues,

it came on television and that was the first

African American woman that I saw on TV really doing it.

- You can't fight it when you're hooked

and you are hooked.

(screaming)

- Give it to me, give it to me.

- You'd kill me for it, wouldn't you?

- She is a huge reason why I'm an actor today.

- For me it was Paul Robeson

and he kind of transformed, he mesmerized me.

♪ And I go tramp, tramp, tramping on getting ♪

I command it.

He had such a commanding presence.

I remember him singing Sweet Lola, Sweet Chariot (laughs)

in that deep, deep voice resonating.

- [Agent] This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.

- Greg Morris from Mission: Impossible,

I mean my house was full of the detective shows.

- [Narrator] As deep as the canyons of Manhattan after dark.

- I'm with you boss.

- The cowboy shows. - Four queens.

(crowd shouts) - My dad was really

into that so I do remember seeing Greg Morris

and I really like the fact that he was

such a professional man and that he was smooth

and good looking and he could carry his word

so well and he was a hero.

I mean he helped crack a lot of cases.

And he was respected by his peers in the business

of what we saw on television.

I think that was really impressive.

- [Narrator] One of the earliest doors to be opened

for black talent was opened with a gun and a badge.

Television cops became very popular icons

for black youths, but one in particular,

a female cop would set the precedence.

Her name was Christie Love.

- But what a way to do it! - I did it?

I suppose I called down to room service

and asked them to send up one killer?

(raucous hip hop music)

- Christie, you know what you've got?

You've got hutzpah, that's what you've got.

- [Narrator] But black police heroes didn't end there,

Clarence Williams III as Link on Mod Squad.

- I'm sorry, but my hands are tied.

- I resign.

(funky 70s music)

- [Narrator] George Sanford Brown on Rookies.

- We've got to create an atmosphere of trust

in the community and you don't do that by

calling Riker and half the police force in on this.

- Mike you made a mistake.

You get a piece of the blame, so does Webster,

do does Gillus, you don't all the credit when you're right.

You don't get all the blame when you're wrong.

All right where are we and where are we gonna go?

- [Narrator] And Greg Morris on Vegas all wore a badge

and before there was NYPD Blue, there was NYPD

and one of its stars Bobbie Hooks.

- I was the first black to co-star as a New York

police detective in NYPD.

(funky 70s music)

It was a wonderful experience for me.

First of all, there were three of us starring in the show.

The New York Police Department gave us carte blanche

to use stories out of the files out of the

New York Police Department so we

and we shot 80% of the show on the streets of New York.

It was a blast, it was wonderful

because we just went all around New York.

I remember going into the bank,

a bank, we were shooting in a bank

and I remember this little girl coming up to me,

asking me for my autograph

and saying that she wanted to be in the business and all.

It turned out it was Whoopie Goldberg.

It was Whoopie Goldberg.

- [Narrator] Oddly, some of the most popular black

characters of the early 1980s were

wisecracking black children adopted into white families.

The premise of both Webster and Different Strokes.

- Wow, it's these black kids that got out the ghetto

and they live in a nice house.

I think that's why it was so popular,

because every black kid dreamt of that,

of you know not necessarily living with a white man,

but I'm talking about just (laughs)

but just the whole just the whole lifestyle

that Arnold and his brother just lived

and they were able to just be theirselves

and though they went through their trials and tribulations,

like they still had a good life

and that was something that myself I know I wanted

for myself and my family

and just TV was that escape.

- [Narrator] One actor who weathered the fickle

viewing audience through three long series

was the veteran stage performer Robert Guillaume,

who first found fame with Soap.

It was his portrayal of Benson

which brought him the affection of America.

- It was a classic case of the right actor

meeting the right role,

because he was written against type.

He was somebody that if you had the misfortune

to have hired you couldn't fire him.

But it was interesting in the sense

that I had so many people in my own background

who were similar to Benson

and had a similar attitude about life.

Benson the character I played

was a revenge for Mantan Moreland,

Willie Best and-- - What was that?

- Oh, nothing.

- No, well it was probably just something simple

like an atom bomb, I'll go see if it's out front.

- Rochester. - Pardon me, boss,

but could I get confidential for a moment?

- Stepin Fetchit. - Fine grab,

well plague take you, I thought I told you

to stay away from that vest.

- Yeah but Jessie got all up on my--

- Yeah, you got me coat on there too.

- Yes, but stuffed coat. - Stuffed coat.

- I mean possum. - What do you mean possum?

- Rabbits. - Rabbits?

- [Narrator] When Diahann Carroll was criticized

in the 1960s for her portrayal of the too affluent

Julia, she was merely laying the groundwork

for the acceptance of a series

that would soon change television.

- She loved it until people started saying

she couldn't have been that wealthy

and she couldn't have done this

and she couldn't have that and that was impossible

and they were treating her like she was white

and there were treating her like

that's the part that hurt.

That was pitiful, but whether we realize it or not,

it made the road easier for Bill Cosby

to represent an African American doctor

and an African American advocate, his wife.

We were ready to accept then.

- [Narrator] More people watched The Cosby Show

than any other sitcom in TV history, black or white.

The program was ranked number one more times

than any other since it premiered.

- My desire to get involved in the industry

started with my own viewing of The Cosby Show,

which depicted us with honesty and dignity

and we were depicted as characters

who had more than one dimension,

where in previous shows, we kind of had one dimension.

We are all broke and without a lot of goals.

So it really made me see that there was something for me

and that there was something more to show the world.

- [Narrator] Then Cosby brought A Different World

to the television screen and revealed another dimension

to the black experience, life at an all black college.

- As a result of the positive images that were depicted

on A Different World and the positive experiences

that we were depicting in the college setting,

college enrollment of African Americans went up

significantly, significantly during

the run of that show and beyond.

It makes me feel wonderful to have been a part of that.

A lot of people starting naming their kids

after the characters too, so they were really

paying attention, they made it personal.

I mean it was personal for a lot of people.

- Whitney to me was that she was stuck.

She was black, but she didn't grow up around

the culture, so she had racial identity problems

when she got to school

and the only way I justified in my heart

playing that character was the balance

that the rest of the ensemble gave to that character

because on her own

I would have really hated playing Whitney

and perpetuating the yellow girl

pretentious myth that precedes us.

Marissa Tomei and Lisa Bonet

were in the first season, Charnele Brown played Kim,

Whitney's roommate who was pre-med

and very solid, very solid person.

Kadeem Hardison played Dwayne Wayne,

Sinbad was the PE coach,

Cree Summer was Freddie, the kind of

free-spirited hippie-type character which I loved

and Glynn Turman was a teacher at the school.

- It showed what college life could be like

and kids wanted that and

as a result to this day and the show has been off

the air for 10 years as we speak,

although the re-runs have never left.

Another generation is still addressing me as Colonel Taylor.

So it was a wonderful show.

It was always in the top five for the six years that it ran.

(funky music)

- [Narrator] In 1984, the world fell in love

with a grown-up Michael Jackson when he moonwalked

across the stage of the Emmy-winning Motown 25,

but the path that brought the special to the small screen

wasn't as graceful as the new dance move.

- Motown 25 was very difficult to get done

because actually in the beginning

when I first suggested it to Berry Gordy,

he was not even convinced that it was a good idea.

I had grown up in Motown and I felt very strongly about it

and eventually we were able to get people to come on board.

One of the more interesting things that I think happened

in putting that show together was we're in rehearsal

and I get a letter from Michael Jackson's attorney

that in essence said you are forbidden to tape Billie Jean.

I had just seen him and I thought well that's stupid.

So I went to Michael and I said

essentially look we'll tape it, you can come into

the editing room and in the end if you don't like it,

we won't use it, he did come to the editing room

and was very instrumental in how we put that piece together.

Needless to say that that one moment

of Billie Jean in his career was so impactful

the day before he was Michael Jackson,

certainly a superstar, certainly someone

we had all admired, but by the time the show aired,

he was in another category altogether

and one by himself.

- [Narrator] Tim Reid is another actor

who survived three long running series,

WKRP in Cincinnati, Simon and Simon and Sister Sister,

but it was his next series that brought him

the recognition that befitted him.

- Frank's Place, it was a wonderful, wonderful series.

I was happy with all the characters that were in it.

I was happy with the dignity of the comedy.

It actually is comedy with class.

- Tim is so deceptively smart.

I think a lot of people just considered him a comedian.

He's a brilliant man, he's a very brilliant man,

well-educated man, when he was doing Venus Fly Trap

and WKRP in Cincinnati, if you'll notice,

he dressed like the times the era,

super fly all that funny looking stuff,

but never once did you see him acting like that.

He was simply a man who dressed like that.

There was nothing stereotypical about his actions.

His dress was stereotypical, but not about his

he was just as regular as a guy in a suit and tie.

(funky music)

- [Narrator] But a small apartment in Chicago

with a distinctive address would set

the high water mark for both black television and NBC.

- 227 was a play by Christie Houston

who came from Chicago as I did,

who grew up in a neighborhood like mine.

227 was the address of the building

that she grew up in

and these were all the things that happened

during that time in that building.

Brenda Tartakoff came to the play.

Norman Lear came to the play.

ABC came to the play.

CBS came to the play.

And my daughter said she was producer,

she said you should think about

getting the rights to this play.

NBC was still interested and they still saw it

as a series, so that's how that came about

and we had five good years.

- They'll never play the Rambos

until they stop playing the Sambo.

(screams)

- [Narrator] Young African Americans then began

working behind the television camera,

devising their own shows, using their own humor

and television in black starting finder

its own brighter images from within.

- The very first TV show that I did

was actually the Robert Townsend HBO specials.

They were all called Partners in Crime

and they were one through five

and I did that as a result of working with him

on his first movie Hollywood Shuffle.

- What's the line? - I ain't be

gotten no weapons. - Ah, I ain't be

gotten no weapons.

- My first TV work was Robert Townsend's Partner in Crime

I can say, you know that's the first time

that I did any sketches, any type of standup on TV,

although I did Star Search for like one quick second,

it was like he's got one star.

(calm piano music)

My first solid job in television was In Living Color

and boy I'm proud to be a part of that starting seven.

- I had a really strong sense of pride

about In Living Color, just because it was

us who created it,

it was a real special time,

it was something that was really new.

Saturday Night Live had been around for a while,

but this was something that was totally different,

had a different sensibility and it was one of the first

shows that I worked on that just blew up really, really big.

- I actually auditioned to be a cast member,

but they hired Chris Rock

and then they had more auditions and they hired

Tim Meadows and then I guess they thought

hmm, well we need somebody to write for them.

And then they hired me.

- Fresh Prince, I think the cast made it really special.

I think Will Smith had something a charisma

that can't be denied, which is we all see

what's happened with him.

- Living Single was the first sitcom

about young people trying to make sense

of love and life in the big city.

It was the very first.

All the other ensemble comedies

were either about families or about other people,

people in their 40s, like on Cheers,

they were in their 40s and 50s

and Living Single was really the first

out of all of your young hip urban sitcoms

and I'm proud to be able to say I was there.

- I did Living Single and after Living Single

I had my own show on NBC for about maybe four episodes.

It's called Built to Last oddly enough.

And then reunited with Robert Townsend,

I ran the The Parent 'Hood, then Moesha.

- 40 Love was again just my attempt

to chronicle my life and those of the people around me

taking it the next stage after Living Single

which was being married.

- Bernie Mac is somebody's uncle.

He's a million people's uncle.

I got an uncle just like Bernie Mac.

You know people say Bernie's so fun,

he reminds of my uncle with this thing.

Well I don't know that a lot of white folks

have an uncle like Bernie,

so they can look at Bernie and be like what is this?

- Girlfriends we deal with the female relationships

and we just happen to be black

and I love the fact

I have whites, I have Latinos, Asian people

coming up to me saying that they love the show

because we deal with women's issues.

We just happen to be African Americans on the show

and also too we were talking one day at work

about the word crossover.

They consider our show a crossover show

and I think that's a positive thing,

because when I hear crossover, I think that

people can identify with the show.

- I think on Steve Harvey, they wanted us to try

to open up the audience and we actually had

a diverse cast, we never got any credit for it,

but (laughs) because I think when you have

a black lead in the show then you're perceived

as a black show and you're perceived differently.

- [Narrator] Diversity in TV drama

has thrived in ensemble casting.

- Ah man, you know being a part of that show LA Law,

and I've said it before, but it's very true,

it has impacted my life it did and continues

to impact my life because of the doors it opened

at that time because of the exposure of that show.

- Blair Underwood because of his presence on LA Law

had graduated what we were used to seeing

and he was intelligent, he was attractive.

He had presence

and he put us more in the equality category

because he was a man who was an attorney

who was doing things and so

and you wanted to see more of him,

so that was actually very encouraging for me.

- [Narrator] Black drama continues

its struggle to gain ground.

- I was on this show called City of Angels

which was a black drama, which I actually watched

and I don't know why there aren't any black dramas.

- A CBS executive once told me

that TV series, dramatic series

with Lou Gossett and James Earl Jones

had both been canceled.

They had both premiered in the early 80s the same year

because a segment of the population

was uncomfortable seeing the black male

in positions of authority.

- And when you go to the studio root,

many different things, everybody lifts up

that two word beast and it says the bottom line

and it's all about what makes the bottom line

and the money. - I think it's hard

to get black-themed shows on TV

because there aren't enough black people

making the decisions about what goes on TV.

- [Narrator] In 1980, Black Entertainment Television

premiered, it was a cultural phenomenon that could

have changed the image of television in black.

- It was this force that you could feel

even before you could see it.

- We went on and sang acapella for the first time.

♪ Can you tell me how a perfect love goes wrong ♪

It was cool man because one thing in the ghetto

if you don't have any channel, you got BET,

you know what I'm saying so we made sure that everybody

we knew taped it so when we got back

we had tapes for everybody like I was on that show,

I was on that show.

- [Narrator] Despite its popularity

in the black community, sales were low.

- Broadcast television, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox,

they deliver audiences to advertisers.

Paid television, HBO, Showtime delivers subscribers,

BET Black Entertainment Television,

a year ago they were earning only $60,000 in revenues

per prime time hour, that's what a broadcast network,

even a UPN or a WB they get that more than that

for a 30 second spot.

- [Narrator] BET was sold in Viacom in 2000.

- I hear people criticizing Bob Johnson

for selling BET, why is there not another BET coming about?

Why do we have not the production houses?

You know you look around and you see the athletes,

and I'm not trying to spend anybody else's money,

but you know you would figure that

at some point we would say enough.

- They said to get a laugh

you can't be afraid to act like a fool.

- [Narrator] There are those who believe

the 50 years of television in black has come full circle,

that buffoonery is still rampant.

Others believe that it is all a work in progress

down the long road of entertainment and equality.

- Well I think that probably if we're gonna be honest

the majority of the images of black people

on television in comedy over the years

has been Calhoun in one way or another.

- I don't think there are great sitcoms,

but I do think there's a buffoon on every show,

be it white or black, but there is always somebody

looking at them going what, what are you talking about?

- You have prominent black people on television,

but a lot of the times you do see the stereotype

and that's what people think that we are.

That's a part of us too,

but there's just so much more.

We are not one dimensional.

- We are not a monolith.

And that's the truth that needs to be told

over and over and over again.

There are all different kinds of people.

There are all different kinds of black people

and the world needs to know that.

- I will be glad when the day comes

when we don't have to include race in something

for it be considered black programming,

when we could just tell a story,

when we could have a conversation.

That to me is a great day,

but there are a lot of black people who are against that.

A lot of black people think

black people should only be talking about issues

pertaining to their blackness

and I'm a lot of things, one of which is black,

an important one of which is black,

but I'm a lot of things.

I'm a Christian, I'm a man, I'm a Californian,

all of these are me, why should I take one aspect of me?

That's like doing everything about the fact

that I'm from California.

That would be ridiculous.

It's just as ridiculous to say everything

out of my mouth should pertain to my blackness.

I don't get it.

(calm jazz music)

- [Narrator] Television in black has indeed

been a long strange dance.

It has never been as simple as just black and white.

It never can be.

There were monumental talents who struggled in silence

and whose work has been half forgotten.

Looking back, we know they made us laugh,

often tugged at our hearts, always enriched the legacy

and truly changed American culture.

- The first 50 years were

the hardest most definitely in Hollywood.

(calm hip hop music)

(Multicom Jingle)