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I was watching MeTV the other day, which is a fantastic station chock-full of old-time TV shows. In one sitting I saw episodes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Rifleman and Star Trek (TOS). So it got me thinking... None of these shows has many (if any) black actors. And now I'm curious as to which TV show was the first to feature a predominantly black cast.

Anyone know? I'm thinking back to What's Happening, Good Times, The Jeffersons... But were there any before then?

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  • Do I get the green check mark?
    – Ben Plont
    Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 21:31
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    Looks like it. I wanted to see if anyone would come up with anything else, but it looks like this is it.
    – Johnny Bones
    Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 21:32

2 Answers 2

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Amos and Andy ran from 1951 - 1953. It is credited as the first black sit-com. It was a spin off of a radio show that started in 1928.

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    As a radio show, the characters were voiced by Gosden and Corell, who were white, but When the show moved to television, black actors took over the majority of the roles; white characters were infrequent.
    – Ankit
    Commented Oct 5, 2015 at 6:13
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Sanford and Son, starting 1972. It is the oldest one that I have found that has a predominantly African American cast.

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