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What Was The Role Of Minorities In Television In The 1970's

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Until the 1970s, the majority of people who appeared on American television programs were white. Not so many African Americans, Hispanic, or other minorities got to be the lead in a movie, a show, or a positive advertisement. Being white was viewed as normal to be appeared in all sorts of programs in television including news, sports, advertisements, or radio. In contrast, African American and other minorities that happened to make appearance on any entertainment programs tended to be presented as stereotypes with negative images. For example, African American actors played roles as servants while white actors always play roles as the owner or the superior.
In 1960s, while the Civil Rights movement was about the end, which led to more diversity in American media and advertisement. It was almost 90% of American owned a television. Therefore, the broadcast networks tried to attract more audiences other than just white viewers without risking to lose some of them who still supported segregation. The broadcast networks also assumed that white viewers would not be interested in watching shows about minorities.
However, the beginning of 1950s, there were a few show that featured minorities. The most popular and significant one was I Love Lucy, aired from 1951 to 1957, starred by comedian Lucille Ball and her Hispanic …show more content…

The show was about a nurse raising her young child after the death of her husband, she lived with both black and white tenants and never had discrimination of different races. Overtime, audience get to adjust with images of other minorities to be their entertainers. In 1970s, African American comedian Flip Wilson hosted a variety show that reached number two in national TV ranking and won two Emmy Awards. His success led other comedians and stars like Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle to follow his

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