Watching Race

This work provides a look at the political, social and economic contexts within which viewers consume images of African Americans in the late 20th century, and which specifically shape the television industry itself. Herman Gray looks at a wide range of shows from the 1980s and 1990s, including "In Living Colour", "The Cosby Show", "A Different World", "Frank's Place" and "Roc". He includes interviews he conducted with television executives, writers and producers, as well as a discussion of African American youth culture that illustrates the dialogue which exists between young viewers and representations of themselves on TV. Gray places racial representation on television in historical perspective, so that at various historical moments what we have denounced as "assimilationalist" or "caricatured" can be understood as strategic. For instance, "The Cosby Show" can be seen not as a show designed to make white people comfortable or as one that caters to the neo-conservatives within the African American community, but as a show that enabled the production of many other programmes, and paved the way for a whole host of television portrayals of African Americans.
The book questions why certain figures, images and relationships dominate television's portrayal of African Americans and what these portrayals mean for various political and cultural groups. Beginning with a discussion of the politics of race, gender and class during the rise of Reaganism, Gray elaborates on the struggle over representation which is waged both from within and without the African American community, with different stakes, investments and political agendas for everyone from big commercial networks and Afrocentrists to white suburban audiences and ordinary black viewers.