Black in Period Films

As a child I regularly watched syndicated television shows in historical settings like Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman with my mother. I remembered that some of the episodes featured black characters and dealt with race. I thought it'd be fun to rewatch these episodes and give my thoughts here. The first episode I dug up was the season 5 episode 30 of Bonanza, titled "Enter Thomas Bowers" which aired April 26, 1964. The episode starts with three women discussing a benefit concert for the local Native American tribe. One of the women proudly states that she has gotten the internationally famous singer Thomas Bowers to perform and that he is coming in on the next stagecoach. Only when Thomas Bowers (William Marshall) arrives, he's not exactly who she thought he'd be. Once she realizes that the singer is a black man the entire atmosphere changes.  I have to stop here is point out the irony of them not wanting...

On the season 4 premiere of Black-ish, we are treated with a musical (Hamilton inspired) based on the oft-forgotten holiday Juneteenth. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19ththat the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. ( source ) Episode Summary: After getting upset by the twins' Columbus Day school play, Dre decides to take matters into his own hands with a Juneteenth musical.  One of the musical numbers 'I Am A Slave' performed by The Roots was accompanied by Schoolhouse Rock-esque animation on why Juneteenth is celebrated. The musical numbers "We Built It" and "Freedom" portray the Johnson family as slaves. "We Built It" comes first, with the elder Johnsons explaining to the younger one that it was sla...

Angel Coulby, Wunmi Mosaku and Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dancing On The Edge Promo Still [Source: Merlin’s Keep] The wonderful Angel Coulby is also in the 5 part BBC drama. I talked about it previously . It looks GREAT!!