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Ethnic and Racial Studies
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Black power TV
aEric TangaAfrican and African Diaspora Studies, The Universityof Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Published online: 09 Jun 2014.

To cite this article: Eric Tang (2014): Black power TV, Ethnic and Racial Studies, DOI:
10.1080/01419870.2014.920097
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2014.920097

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Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2014

BOOK REVIEW

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Black power TV, by Devorah Heitner, Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2013, ix +190 pp., US$22.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-8223-5424-6

In the wake of the urban unrest of 1967 and 1968, virtually every sector of
US society was challenged to confront what the Kerner commission oncivil disorders famously decried as ‘two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal’. Commercial and public television was no exception, as the Kerner commission, in explaining the myriad factors leading tounrest, pointed to mainstream journalism’s failure to adequately andaccurately cover black urban communities.
By 1968, commercial and public stations in major cities responded tothe political moment by airing the nation’s first black public affairs
television programmes. The story of four such programmes – two local
and two national – are the focus of Devorah Heitner’s important study,
Black Power TV.
By turns a social history and media analysis that draws on a range ofsources, including the author’s impressive interviews with those directly
involved in creating these shows, Black Power TV, not only presents us
with a story untold but also reminds us that there was a time whenmainstream television had no choice but to talk meaningfully about racism
and structural inequality – that is, to do so in ways that were often
unsettling, not sanitized. On shows such as Inside Bedford Stuyvesant,youth performers recited Amiri Baraka’s lines: ‘America, America. Why
did you bring us here? America!’ ‘Rape your mother, lynch yourfather!’ (43).
By every measure, this was a radical departure from the ‘Jim Crow
television’ that defined the post-war era.
But according to Heitner, everyday community members were the truestars of the black public affairs television shows. Here they wererepresented with the nuance, complexity and dignity they deserved. Onthe heels of the urban insurrections, these programmes provided anecessary counter-narrative to mainstream representations of undifferentiated black rage.
Black public affairs television was not without its myriad contradictions –some of which Heitner explores at length, and others that she only discusses in passing. She notes that Inside Bedford Stuyvesant attempted tobalance several messages and representations at once: racial uplift; the‘good ghetto’ (embodied by hosts who came across as young, black andDownloaded by [Duke University Libraries] at 10:59 20 June 20142Book review

respectable, but not militant); and a steady critique of structural inequality.
Heitner describes this as a willful ‘counterpublic’ strategy: the show spoke
to both outsiders and insiders. Yet the question remains how does thisstrategy square with the book’s titular ‘Black Power?’ The term black power
is never fully defined, and as such the reader is left to wonder why, inkeeping with the self-deterministic spirit of the black power movement,these programmes even attempted to be palatable to white audiences.
One infers that the answer has to do with how the television companies –both commercial and public – were entirely managed by whites and fundedby major corporations and philanthropic groups. In this sense, Black Power
TV was quite distinct from other forms of independent black media,
particularly print and radio, which enjoyed varying degrees of blackownership. Heitner touches only lightly on these material and structural
matters, and she makes short shrift of the fact that, with the exception of
Inside Bedford Stuyvesant, all of the shows she analyses were on public, notcommercial, stations. She notes only that the difference between commercial
and public sponsorship of the black public affairs show was ‘fuzzy’ (29). Yet
this is a crucial distinction, one that deserves further elaboration, as it would
allow the reader to better understand the political and economic motives of
the companies that aired these programmes.
Nevertheless, the struggles between black producers and white management come across effectively in Hietner’s chronicling of shows such as
Boston’s Say Brother. Liberals hoped that Say Brother would keep restive
black audience glued to their sets, and thus off the streets. Instead, theshow became a voice for street insurrection. Producer Ray Richardson
took Say Brother into New Bedford during an urban uprising. He defied
station management by broadcasting his uncensored interviews with those
who had taken to the streets. Richardson was fired (and the show
temporarily cancelled) by WGBH. This incident is the book’s most salient
lesson on the possibilities and limitations of black public affairs television.
The chapters that focus on the two national programmes – Black Journaland Soul! – present powerful examples of the innovative programming thattook shape despite the political constraints imposed upon black producers
and staff. Heitner offers an engaging account of the making of a Black
Journal episode in which reporter Kent Garrett travels to Vietnam andOkinawa to interview black soldiers. The hour-long feature delved into theracism that black GIs experienced at the hands of their white superiors andpeers, as well as their ambivalence about fighting for US imperialism
abroad while racism persisted at home. Equally fascinating is Heitner’s
portrayal of the political and cultural milieu that came together aroundSoul! Here we are introduced to a world in which Nikki Giovanni andJames Baldwin debate black sexualities, relationships and families; whereGivovanni interviews a young Mohammad Ali about his refusal to fight inVietnam; where Baraka discusses his genesis as a writer. This is the black
power movement in full tilt: artists, activists, entertainers – all of whom areDownloaded by [Duke University Libraries] at 10:59 20 June 2014

Book review

3

at the centre of the counterculture – appearing on a television show made by,for and about black people.
But after reading the chapter on Soul!, one is left to wonder whether or not
the show represented the height of the movement or rather its denouement. It
remains unclear what such programmes yielded for political movements on
the ground; how did they help to advance the struggle, to stage the next
political moment? Or perhaps the black public affairs show was a belated
response – a post-insurrectionary concession – by white liberals in theaftermath of the conflagrations.
Heitner does not delve into these broader historical and politicalquestions, but her work, nevertheless, unveils a moment in televisionthat is unimaginable today. Black Power TV brings to light that crucial
turning point – that brief window of time that preceded the corporatedriven, multiculturalism that dominates television today.
Eric Tang
African and African Diaspora Studies
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USAerictang@utexas.edu© 2014, Eric Tang
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2014.920097