Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, the first full length American feature film. The crisis of Southern white masculinity during Reconstruction (1865-1877) was at the center of D.W. Black men were portrayed as chicken and watermelon thieves in early film shorts following Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The development of cinema would add a new dimension to the stereotyping of the African-American community. Minstrel shows were the earliest form of American humor and set the stage for depictions of blackness in popular culture. Black performers like Bert Williams also blackened up for minstrel shows. All of this amounted to a less than flattering attempt to duplicate blackness through grotesque forms of cultural appropriation and racial cross dressing. These actors used burnt cork to darken their faces, dressed in tattered clothing, spoke in broken English, and performed Negro spirituals and jigs. White performers, Dan Emmett and Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, introduced minstrelsy to American popular culture in the 19th century. ![]() Why did civil rights leaders believe that this series was harmful to African-Americans? Was this boycott a necessary endeavor during the Civil Rights Movement? Did this series become a scapegoat for a segment of the black middle class and elite more concerned with defining all pop cultural images of the African-American community by their imposed standards of respectability and blackness than the show’s actual impact on the black masses? ![]() The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) network cancelled Amos ‘n’ Andy after a national boycott led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As it turned out Amos ‘n’ Andy was the most controversial series in television history. Years later I learned that not everyone viewed one of my favorite childhood shows with the same enthusiasm. I just knew that this was one of the funniest shows that my young eyes had ever seen. I never asked my dad why the show was not on television. We had to rent videocassettes from Erol’s, a now defunct video rental store, to watch the episodes. Unlike the other “classic” shows, Amos ‘n’ Andy reruns did not come on television. One summer he introduced me to a series called Amos ‘n’ Andy. Of a portion of it is so poorly reproduced.Īll rights to the content of this page not successfully claimedīy others.During childhood my favorite television shows were cartoons, The Cosby Show, and the black-and-white classic series I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, and The Three Stooges, which I watched with my dad. Terrific framed collection of inscribed photos from several of In the stairwell entrance to Miss Wade's residence there was a Lowe: Well, he was certainly perfect for the Miss Wade: And a jockey, and an actor, and I Youth, and other periods in his life, because he had a very Played pinochle much of the time and he didn't play, so he wasĪround regaling whoever would listen with the experiences of his He kept everybody in stitches when they weren't working and Tim and SpencerĮverybody on the show was very agreeable. How did you feel about him? Was he easy to Were every bit as effective as the Bunkers or the Honeymooners. Lowe: You said that the show was well acted. On me said "That's what I want to know." We had a lot of "How could you ask me that?" And this woman who was waiting ![]() She didn't want to be rude and talk over our conversation,īut finally she came out: "You know I want to ask you something." I said "What is it?" And she said "I know who you are and I want to ask you, is that your real husband?" I said Talking to me and another woman a few feet away had her patron. I got an uncle just like your husband."Īnother time I was making a purchase and my saleswoman was I haveīeen on escalators going up or coming down and people - "Oh, I know who you are. Somebody on the show or knew someone in the family. Show, regardless of race, creed or color, identified with That there was any intention or projection of racial Miss Wade: Actually, I never was of the opinion People, big shot people, they wanted the part. Childress: Well, there was Lucky Millinder. Miss Wade: Who else did you see besides Cab? I know he's got experience." He said, "Would you tell him to kink his hair?" I said, "No, sir, Mr. Was then assigned the task of finding suitable candidates to be Alvin Childress told me that he was chosen to play Amos a Right actors to portray all the characters on television. "Amos" These brief excerpts are from a lengthy interview,Ĭonducted in the Fall of 1979, with Ernestine Wade and Alvinįreeman Gosden and Charles Correll, the voices of Amos andĪndy on radio, conducted a long and careful search for just the Amos 'n' Andy Interview - Re: Tim Moore A Conversation With
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