In the fall of 1968, with the debut of the situation comedy Julia, singer and actor Diahann Carroll became the first African American woman to star as a non-domestic in a weekly television series—comedy or drama.
The premiere of Julia in the late 1960’s did not mark the first time that an African American woman took the leading role in a television series. In the 1940’s, the popular radio series Fibber McGee and Molly
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The decision was made to recast the role for TV. The widely respected and admired African American singer and actor Ethel Waters
Thereafter, a number of African American actresses were featured in supporting roles in series, but always as servants of some sort. It was not until the 1963-1964 season that an African American woman appeared in a supporting role in a series as something other than a domestic: Cicely Tyson
Other than the casting of Carroll, much about Julia was highly conventional. Julia Baker was a nurse working for the company doctor of an aerospace corporation, and she was a widow with a small son named Corey. The plots of most of the episodes derived from problems at work, the escapades of young Corey and his best friend Earl, the antics of Earl’s rather eccentric parents, and Julia’s adventures in dating. The supporting cast was superb. Hollywood veteran Lloyd Nolan played the doctor for whom Julia worked, and seasoned character actors Mary Wickes
In large part because of this traditional approach, Julia drew criticism from some critics and commentators for not addressing racial issues more directly and more often. Julia Baker and her son navigated too easily and comfortably, such critics thought, through their racially diverse but predominantly white workplace, school, and neighborhood. Racism and discrimination were rarely even mentioned, much less depicted or addressed. Typical of the series’ low-keyed handling of race is an exchange in the pilot episode, in which Julia is being interviewed over the phone by her soon-to-be boss Morton Chegley. After he expresses approval and seems about to offer her a job in his office, Julia gently explains to the doctor that there is something he needs to know: “I’m colored,” she says. Without missing a beat, Dr. Chegley quips, “What color are you?” and hires her, sight unseen.
Though these complaints might not be without merit, much of what was good about the series derived from this selfsame utopian aspect. Julia may not have appeared until the decade was almost over, but it was nevertheless very much in the best spirit of the 1960’s: idealistic, optimistic, millennial. The racial environment depicted by the series may not have been strictly realistic, but it reflected quite faithfully the goal toward which civil rights workers and social activists of the decade strove: an America in which ethic diversity is a given and in which harmony among races seems the natural order of things. Julia may not have depicted African Americans in a realistic struggle for equality but it certainly provided a glowing model for the hopes and dreams of Americans of all ethnicities. This matter of models figures in another important positive aspect of Julia, the role model that the heroine provided. For the very first time, young people watching television across America were presented with an African American woman—who was young and professional—as the focus of attention within a series.
On the question of realism and sociopolitical issues, many critics of the time who dismissed the series often overlooked a small but important fact about the background story for Julia. Julia Baker was a widow, because her husband was killed in Vietnam. The primary memento that Julia and Corey had of their deceased husband and father, one that was shown from time to time throughout the run of the series, was a photo of him in uniform, gently reminding the audience of how and where he had died. At a time in U.S. history during which even dramatic television series and mainstream films were reluctant to treat the war in Vietnam, this small element in an otherwise genial situation comedy was almost as groundbreaking as Diahann Carroll’s position as lead actor in her own series.
The significance of any first accomplishment is that it provides a precedent for a second, a third, and more to follow. Julia proved to television executives and programmers that a series headed by an African American woman could be a success. However, perhaps just as important as the series’ status as a breakthrough event in American entertainment is its apparent influence on what later became the single most successful situation comedy to feature an African American cast, The Cosby Show,
Sixteen years earlier, Julia took an almost trite sitcom formula—a single parent with a cute, mischievous kid, involved in amusing interactions with crusty bosses and wacky neighbors—and used its safe format as a way to ensure the success of an African American-themed series. Cosby did precisely the same: it relied on the tried-and-true template of a classic American family sitcom (somewhat bumbling, laid-back dad, no-nonsense mom, sarcastic teenagers, cute moppets) to make something new—a series about an African American upper middle-class family—seem familiar and thereby more accessible to viewers.
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Bogle, Donald. Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2001. Perhaps the best book on the subject, by an authority on African Americans in the entertainment industry. -
Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. 8th ed. New York: Ballantine, 2003. A truly essential tool for any research on television programming. A National Book Award winner. -
Carroll, Diahann, with Ross Firestone. Diahann: An Autobiography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1986. A fascinating firsthand account not only of the making of Julia but also of other accomplishments in Carroll’s diverse career. -
Smith-Shomade, Beretta E. Shaded Lives: African American Women and Television. Piscataway, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002. A scholarly yet practical and accessible treatment of the subject of African American women in television.
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