The World of John Johnson and Amos 'n Andy

Amos 'n Andy never came close to the lows of today's black entertainment

By Elizabeth Wright

[Reprinted from Issues & Views September 14, 2005]

In an August 11th New York Times column, "Black and White and Read All Over," John McWhorter pays homage to the recently deceased black publisher John H. Johnson, who created the popular magazines Ebony and Jet.

With the advent of his publications in the mid-1940s, Johnson possessed the means to depict, in articles and full-color photographs, striving, upwardly mobile blacks engaging in the "normal things in life" generally associated with white America -- graduating school, getting married, working at jobs, giving parties, running successful businesses. The attractive people who filled the pages of Ebony were on the road to social and economic success, or had already arrived there.

Of the many interesting sociological observations that might be made of Johnson's influence, a great many of Ebony's faithful readers shared the values of the bourgeoisie, even when their salaries put them well below middle class status. While immersed in the stories within the pages of Ebony, every black could imagine him/herself living a grander lifestyle.

In recent years, writes McWhorter, Johnson's "upbeat tone" carried a whiff of another time, that is, black America "before the black power era in the late '60s." The 1965 Watts riots was a turning point in the conventional civil rights assimilation philosophy. "The new way," McWhorter explains, "elevated separatism and supporting that argument by showing whites the plight of blacks who had it the worst." Under the new mentality, "black success was often treated as an inconvenient sideshow, best publicized as little as possible."

In the 1950s, McWhorter observes, the NAACP had decried the Amos 'n Andy sitcom "for not paying enough attention to successful blacks." But by the 1960s, "black pundits ganged up on Diahann Carroll's sitcom Julia [about a striving black nurse] for not paying enough attention to poor blacks."

It's hard to believe (or maybe not) that the supposedly prestigious NAACP could have had a beef with the satirical Amos 'n Andy show, and today grants awards to rapping, hip-hopping fools, who are among the creators of some of the filthiest forms of entertainment. About this vulgarity, McWhorter writes, "Today many writers celebrate even the nastiest gangsta rap as a vibrant reflection of black culture." Given the nature of much of black popular music, and the often raw sexual innuendo of some black sitcoms, Amos 'n Andy never came close to the lows of today's black entertainment.

Amos 'n Andy 's main characters did speak in black dialect, or "Ebonics," and the "Kingfish" character, always seeking ways to make a quick buck, fell in and out of trouble. Yet the people who inhabited Amos 'n Andy 's world lived in what appeared to be a stable mixed-class black neighborhood. Most of the characters who came and went were married men with wives and families. There were black professionals (doctors, lawyers, business people) who showed up as walk-in characters, and many others who were clearly working, tax-paying citizens -- speaking straight, comprehensible English. In fact, it was not unusual for the less industrious characters to be excoriated as "lazy" or "shiftless" by the more responsible ones.

Too many ironies abound here, but one that stands out is the current emphasis on the use of black dialect. Today, many black performers cultivate this speech pattern, since they believe it gives them a distinctive edge over non-blacks. That which brought calumny to Amos 'n Andy is now rewarded with honors and mega bucks.

Copies of the Amos 'n Andy program have been commandeered by those who would keep the series from public view. A rumor, which might be an Urban Legend, claims that it is entertainer Bill Cosby who bought the rights to the television sitcom and is responsible for keeping it off the air. Embarrassed by the "uncouthness" of some of the characters represented in the story lines, many blacks are pleased that the obstreperous Kingfish's shenanigans can no longer be viewed. Still others would welcome the substitution of this light-hearted TV series for some of the current entertainment fare.

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