Professor Elam

Monday Feb 22 2010

While legislation was passed in the 1960s changing voting and other laws, it took a while to change attitudes. No doubt the admission of black athletes to major sports, which really took off, had a lot to do with that. But, media watcher that I am, it seems to me there were a couple of other events that figured prominently in the change. I mentioned a few posts back Sept 30, 2009, that Desi Arnaz was my pick for the most influential Hispanic in modern times. I found it odd that no one commented but…here i go again. 

Bill Cosby was certainly a transition figure in all of this. Bill never told jokes, he told stories. The stories involved his life as a kid with his brother Russell and buddies like Fat Albert. We all had those experiences but few of us had the ability to weave life lessons and humor the way Bill did and does.  

Bill Cosby Himself consisted of Bill, a mike, and a chair. It was perhaps the best one man comedy show ever, back in 1984. It got Bill his own television show all about the Huxtables, a well to do family. That show was one of those landmarks that set a standard for how things ought to be. 

The Jeffersons  was a spin off from All in the Family in 1975. The theme song Movin' on Up reflected the new lifestyle as a result of a successful dry cleaning business. While this sounds mundane now, the show featured a successful black family, their wise cracking maid, a son,  an interesting Englishman from down the hall, and a mixed race couple from another floor. The latter was unusual at the time. But compared to the over the top antics of George, frankly it came across as rather benign.  George was always spinning off into space, only to be brought back to earth by wife Louise.  My point is that such comedy forms a basis to conclude that we are all alike, we all have similar dreams and emotions. These characters deserve a place in the overall history as they changed opinion in a that legislation never could.