A comprehensive look at the history of African Americans on television that discusses major trends in black TV and examines the broader social implications of the relationship between race and popular culture as well as race and representation.Previous treatments of the history of African Americans in television have largely lacked theoretical analysis of the relationship between representations and social contexts. African Americans on Television: Race-ing for Ratings fills the existing void by supplying fundamental history with critical analyses of the racial politics of television, documenting the considerable effect that television has had on popular notions of black identity in America since the inception of television.Covering a spectrum of genres-comedy, drama, talk shows, television movies, variety shows, and reality television, including shows such as Good Times, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Chappelle's Show-this insightful work traces a cultural genealogy of African Americans in television. Its chronological analysis provides an engaging historical account of how African Americans entered the genre of television and have continued to play a central role in the development of both the medium and the industry. The book also tracks the shift in the significance of African Americans in the television market and industry, and the changing, but enduring, face of stereotypes and racism in American television culture.

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Our Regularly Scheduled ProgramDavid J. Leonard and Lisa A. Guerrero1. Consciousness on Television: Black Power and Mainstream NarrativesDavid J. Leonard2. An Interview with John AmosTammy L. Brown3. Looking for Lionel: Making Whiteness and Blackness in All in the Family and The JeffersonsLisa Woolfork4. What's Your Name? Roots, Race, and Popular Memory in Post-Civil Rights AmericaC. Richard King5. More Serious than Money: On Our Gang, Diff'rent Strokes, and WebsterJared Sexton6. Post-racial, Post-Civil Rights: The Cosby Show and the National ImaginationDavid J. Leonard7. A Different Sort of Blackness: A Different World in a Post-Cosby LandscapeDavid J. Leonard8. Just Another Family Comedy: Family Matters and The Fresh Prince of Bel-AirShiron V. Patterson9. Single Black Female: Representing the Modern Black Woman in Living SingleLisa A. Guerrero10. The Black Family in the New Millennium: The Bernie Mac Show, My Wife and Kids, and Everybody Hates ChrisQiana M. Cutts11. Blackness and Children's Programming: Sesame Street, A.N.T. Farm, and The LeBronsDavid J. Leonard12. "Black" Comedy: The Serious Business of Humor in In Living Color, Chappelle's Show, and The BoondocksLisa A. Guerrero13. Selling Blackness: Commercials + Hip-Hop Athletes Hocking ProductsRegina N. Bradley14. The Queen of Television: Oprah Winfrey in Relation to Self and as a Cultural IconBillye N. Rhodes and Kristal Moore Clemons15. Tyler Perry Takes Over TVBettina L. Love16. B(l)ack in the Kitchen: Food NetworkLisa A. Guerrero17. Ratchet Responsibility: The Struggle of Representation and Black Entertainment TelevisionKristen J. Warner18. White Authorship and the Counterfeit Politics of Verisimilitude on The WireMichael Johnson Jr.19. Representations of Representation: Urban Life and Media in Season Five of The WireBhoomi K. Thakore20. La-La's Fundamental Rupture: True Blood's Lafayette and the Deconstruction of NormalKaila Adia Story21. Can the Black Woman Shout? A Meditation on "Real" and Utopian Depictions of African American Women on Scripted TelevisionRebecca Wanzo22. Scandal and Black Women in TelevisionKwakiutl L. Dreher23. "Get a Crew...And Make It Happen": The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and New Media's Potential for Self-DefinitionPhillip Lamarr Cunningham24. Performing "Blackness": Barack Obama, Sport, and the Mediated Politics of IdentityMichael D. Giardina and Kyle S. BundsEpilogue: "New Normal" in American Television? Race, Gender, Blackness, and the New RacismPaula Groves PriceAbout the Editors and ContributorsIndex