Amos 'N' Andy: How To React? -- Even Blacks Were Divided Over Popular Radio Show

"The Adventures of Amos 'n' Andy: A Social History of an American Phenomenon" by Melvin Patrick Ely The Free Press, $22.95 ................................................................ In 1926, two white veterans of black-face minstrel shows, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, decided to create a radio show in which they would play two black characters from Georgia who had migrated to Chicago in search of a better life. Thus was born "Amos 'n' Andy," perhaps the most popular program in radio history and a focus of racial debate through the 1960s, when reruns of the television version could still be seen.

Gosden and Correll began the series as minstrel shows were losing popularity. Since the early 19th century they had portrayed African Americans as sambos and buffoons, particularly during times when lynching was commonplace. Drawing on the minstrel tradition, Amos was portrayed as honest and hardworking, though not too bright; he was the foil for Andy, who was not too bright either, but who thought he was, creating serious difficulties from which Amos rescued him. Andy's lack of education was seen in his malapropisms, the most famous being "I'se regusted" for "I'm disgusted."

By 1931, the 15-minute, five-days-per-week show was a huge success, and most black people did not know that the characters were played by their two white creators. But Robert Vann, publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier, knew, and he was appalled at the insulting

portrayal. Despite a spirited six-month campaign to boycott the program, the Courier could show little for its efforts, and the show continued. It increased in popularity among both blacks and whites until 1951, when the NAACP passed a resolution condemning the show, which had moved to TV with a cast of black actors.

In "The Adventures of Amos 'n' Andy," Melvin Patrick Ely, an associate professor of Afro-American and Southern history at Yale, gives a comprehensive history of the show's origins and birth, its rise and fall, and he provides a detailed account of the civil-rights organization's work against it.

Ely persuasively demonstrates that the cancellation of the TV show in 1953 resulted less from black pressure than from a fall in ratings because of a programming change. Furthermore, CBS made substantial profit by syndicating the show to local stations, which carried it until the 1960s.

The network and sponsoring Schenley Distillers, as well as local TV managers, knew the NAACP had tried unsuccessfully to orchestrate a massive protest. They also knew the boycott failed because the black population itself was divided: One segment disliked the show but didn't want to hamper the careers of the black actors who played Amos, Andy, the Kingfish, Sapphire and the others, especially since so few blacks were on TV in any capacity; another segment was not so sure the show was all that bad, including the entertainment editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, which two decades earlier had campaigned so vigorously for the radio version's cancellation.

This remarkably complex story shows that even for an oppressed minority, consensus on how best to effect positive change is not easily achieved. Within the NAACP, which argued that "Amos 'n' Andy" depicted "the Negro and other minority groups in a stereotyped and derogatory manner," there was more agreement on the "continuing harm" of the show. The organization said it "tended to strengthen the conclusion among uninformed and prejudiced people that Negroes and other minorities are inferior, lazy, dumb and dishonest."

However, less censorial were the rank and file among African Americans, who found the show funny. They responded more like a black reporter in Baltimore who exclaimed, "I'se regusted!" when she missed the show on Lincoln's birthday in 1930.

I recommend this carefully researched book to all readers. Both the student and casual reader will enjoy Ely's engaging prose as he unfolds the insidious and seductive racism of whites and the workings of the minds of African Americans striving to be fair and unprejudiced while coping with a subtle but pervasive racism.

"The Adventures of Amos 'n' Andy" chronicles American social history and racial attitudes from the Jazz Age to the Civil Rights Era. It demonstrates how popular entertainment and audience appeal - or rejection - can offer insight into social mores as well as racial relations.

Dr. John C. Walter is professor of American ethnic studies and director of the Afro-American studies program at the University of Washington.