ABSTRACT

African Americans have been depicted in mass media (film, radio, television) since the turn of the 20th century. George Hill, Lorraine Raglin and Chas Floyd Johnson “Black Women in Television: An Illustrated History and Bibliography” (1990) provides a 40 year (1950-1990) retrospective of the role black women played in the history of television. This chapter will highlight several iconic characters who can be classified as maternal mammies and mainstream matriarchs during that four-decade span as well as discuss more contemporary roles from 1990-2016.

When television became the new popular medium for news and entertainment in the late 1940s, the same stereotypes depicted on radio programs and in films migrated to the small screen. What should be remembered is that during this time (1940s-1950s) and leading up until the early 1980s, white men created the television roles and subsequent images that African Americans portrayed.

Black women have been depicted as maternal mammies and mainstream matriarchs for much of their television representation. These stereotypes have evolved over the last three decades in part as a direct result of the advancements Black women have made politically, socially, educationally and financially. These roles have also evolved largely due to the increase in Black women behind the scenes in creative roles, namely writers, directors and showrunners.