For more than half of the 20th century, Black actors were relegated to bit roles and side characters in American television. The Amos and Andy Show was one of few Black-led sitcoms of the 1950s.
The ‘60s weren’t much better, with only a few shows like Diahann Carroll’s Julia being one of very few notable examples.
But in the 1970s… the tide started to turn… With popular Black-led sitcoms like Sanford & Son, which debuted in 1972.
It was just the first of several Black shows that would premiere in that decade – and many, including Sanford & Son, were produced by the prolific screenwriter and T-V producer Norman Lear.
Lear died in early December at the age of 101… But his legacy lives on.
Guests
Mark Anthony Neal, an author and James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University
Eric Deggans, NPR TV critic