Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for "Blackness"

In the late 1980s and early 1990s television representations of African Americans exploded on the small screen. Why has this occurred, and what relation do these shows have to society's idea of "blackness"? How do these shows relate to earlier television series featuring African Americans? Herman Gray's Watching Race -- now available in paperback for the first time -- offers a new look at the changing representations of African Americans on television.

Starting with the portrayal of blacks on series such as The Jack Benny Show and Amos 'n' Andy, Gray details the ongoing dialogue between television representations and cultural discourse to show how the meaning of blackness has changed through the years of the TV era. Drawing on analyses of The Cosby Show, Frank's Place, In Living Color, and Roc, as well as music videos, news coverage, and advertising, Watching Race examines how the political stakes, cultural perspectives, and social locations of key cultural and social formations influence the representation of "blackness" in television.

"Absorbing.... Offers incisive analysis of the important, often fierce battles being waged in the black-and-white representational landscape of commercial television". Patricia Williams