Racial Attitudes in Television from 1850-2009

Racial Attitudes in Television

During the 1950s the NAACP highlighted the fact that few black characters appeared on TV and the black characters were shown as stupid and lazy.

Illustrative background for CBS ?? "content

CBS

The programme Amos ’n’ Andy showed black people as stupid and lazy. In 1952, CBS stopped the production of the show.
When TV tried to show black characters positively such as in East Side/West Side (1963) Southern States refused to show the programme.
During the 1970s CBS started to show programmes which had a ‘social conscience’. All in the Family was created to show the bigoted attitudes of Middle America (the average American) in a bid to prove that racism and sexism were wrong.

Roots (1977)

Roots dramatically changed the way TV showed black people.
The main character Kunta Kinte was a brave Warrior who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Despite trying to run away, he remained in slavery his whole life and had a family.
The treatment that he is subject to by slave owners, the KKK, white Americans and the authorities is appalling.
The black characters are always seen as the ‘good guys’ in the programme.
The show was immensely popular. Nearly 50% of Americans watched the last episode on TV.

The Wire (2002-2008)

This was one of the few mainly black cast TV programmes.
The programme reflected the hardships that black communities faced such as drug addiction, poor housing, white-dominated trade unions, poor schooling and corrupt city government.

Reception of The Wire

Critics argued that the programme reinforced racial stereotypes of black people living in ghetto-like areas as being poor, welfare dependant and immoral.
The series was fairly popular and President Obama said it was his favourite TV programme.
The programme highlighted the need for social reform in America.

1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77

1.1The Thirteenth Amendment

1.1.1The Civil War & The Thirteenth Amendment

1.1.2The Impact of the Civil War

1.1.3Economic, Political & Social Position of Ex-Slaves

1.1.4Political Settlement & Andrew Johnson

1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77

1.2.1The Fourteenth Amendment

1.2.2The Fifteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act

1.3The Backlash

1.3.1White Supremacy Groups

1.3.2The End of Reconstruction 1887

2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890

2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases

2.1.1Jim Crow Laws

2.1.2Voting Rights

2.1.3Scientific Racism

2.1.4Civil Rights Cases

2.2Resistance and Migration

2.2.1The Northern States & Black Resistance

2.2.2Early Migration

2.2.3The Great Migration

2.2.4Race Riots

2.2.5Migration Case Study: Harlem

3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41

3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances

3.1.1The Democrat Party & the Anti-Lynching Bill

3.2The New Deal

3.2.1The New Deal

3.2.2The Alphabet Agencies

3.2.3The PWA, WPA & the NYA

3.2.4Benefits

3.2.5Impact of the New Deal & Eleanor Roosevelt

3.2.6Gone With the Wind

3.3The Second World War

3.3.1The Experience of War

3.3.2The Home Front

3.3.3The White Flight

3.3.4Restrictive Covenants

4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68

4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63

4.1.1The Desegregation of Schools

4.1.2The Montgomery Bus Boycott

4.1.3SCLC & Birmingham

4.1.4SNCC

4.1.5CORE

4.2Civil Rights 1964-68

4.2.1Civil Rights Act 1964 & Voting Act 1965

4.2.2Ghettos & Poverty

4.2.31966 - 1968

4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers

4.3.1The Nation of Islam & Malcolm X

4.3.2Divisions in the Civil Rights Movement

4.3.3The Black Panthers

4.4Literature, Film & Television

4.4.1Racial Attitudes in Literature from 1850-2009

4.4.2Racial Attitudes in Film from 1850-2009

4.4.3Racial Attitudes in Television from 1850-2009

5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09

5.1The Late 20th Century

5.1.1Migration Back to the South in the 20th Century

5.1.2The Status of Black People 1968-2009

5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career

5.2.1Barack Obama's Life

5.2.2Senator for Illinois

5.2.3Running as Presidential Candidate

5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory

5.3.1Reasons for Vicotry

5.3.2The Significance of Obama's Victory

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