How TV Sabotaged Racism

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Radio's greatest achievement in the late 1940s and early 1950s may have been its ability to narrow America's racial divide. As independent radio stations flourished after World War II and the wattage of radio towers grew more powerful, young listeners had access to all types of music. Favorite records weren't chosen based on the race of musicians but whether or not the music knocked them out. With the rise of R&B during these years—an offshoot of jazz that filled the dance vacuum that bebop, cool and hard bop left unfilled—teens found an exciting form that suited their energy levels and drove their parents nuts. [Pictured above: Johnny Maestro and the Crests]

In the 1950s, television picked up where radio had left off, subversively educating a national audience on the extraordinary gifts of black and Latino musicians and further erasing the lines between blacks and whites. TV didn't set out to liberate American minds but, over time, TV did play a significant role in loosening the country's racial knot. The more Americans saw blacks, Latinos and whites interacting on TV—laughing, performing and acting together—the more likely they were to challenge segregation's place in society and oppose racial injustice.

While TV didn't operate in this capacity with a plan or a manifesto, white musicians along with white actors, writers and producers did begin a conscious effort to accelerate the frustratingly slow pace of desegregation by creating opportunities for black performers and exposing audiences to what they already believed—that all artists should be judged by the quality of their contributions, not their race.

I was thinking about TV's role the other day while riding a crosstown bus in New York. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered whether it was possible to create a list of TV shows and performers who did the most to chip away at America's way of racial thinking in the 1950s and '60s. These would be '50s shows I had heard about as a kid and the shows I actually watched in the 1960s that influenced my own thinking as I grew up. 

Let me give it a shot...

The Beulah Show (1950-1952)—This ABC comedy was the first to star a black actress. While many of the laughs relied on Beulah's folksy way of putting things, the housekeeper was the person all members of the white family turned to for common-sense solutions, casting her in a smart, leadership role. Here's the show in 1952 with Hattie McDaniel as Beulah...

Dinah Shore and Ray Charles (1963)—This one from reader Bob Stumpel features Shore resting her hand on Ray Charles' shoulder, which triggered headlines at the time...


- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/12/how-tv-sabotaged-racism.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.sPW3bfJ5.dpuf
Used with permission by Marc Myers