It has been 30 years since a black woman has been nominated for the “Best Comedy Actress” Emmy. Not since 1986 (wait, can you believe 1986 was 30 years ago?) has a black woman been nominated for this award and the time has come. Tracee Ellis Ross is an actress who is widely known for starring on shows like Girlfriends and most recent, black-ish. Before her it was Phylicia Rashad being nominated for The Cosby Show and before her there were only four other black women.
Ross is the daughter of one of the greatest singers who you may know as Diana Ross. The whole family is famous, Tracee’s little brother Evan Ross is also an actor and he has been known for movies like ATL and Life Support. This is huge for our community. Do you realize that JUST a nomination is a big thing for us? Black people are not really popular when it comes to award shows like the Emmy’s or the Oscars.
This is also big for us because Ross is loved by everyone. It would be hard to find someone who does not like her. From her acting, to her comedic social media presence, to her natural hair, to her amazing figure. She is widely embraced in the black community and we are proud that it was her that got the nom.
Now that we have praised Ross for being an amazing person all around, let’s get to the issue. There have been so many black sitcoms since the 70’s, and yes we even had Amos ‘n Andy” in the 1940’s. Just making sure you don’t get anything twisted, it hasn’t been too much easier for black men either. Out of the approximately eight men who have been nominated in this category, only one actually won. Black sitcoms from the 1970’s, like What’s Happenin’ and Good Times, to shows in the 80’s like The Cosby Show and A Different World, to the 90’s with Martin, The Wayans Brothers, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, to shows now like black-ish and The Game. There are so many shows that we have and altogether 14 black people have ever been nominated for this award? Come on, I know you see the problem and if you don’t, the end of this article will include all of the black sitcoms I can think of off the top of my head.
So I think that now you can see where I’m coming from and I think you get my point. There is still racism instilled in these shows, they must feel like we aren’t good enough or that we aren’t worthy of winning their awards. Either way, there needs to be a change.
List of Black Sitcoms (that I just know of without using Google)
227
Sanford & Son
Diff’rent Strokes
Good Times
What’s Happenin’
The Jeffersons
The Cosby Show
A Different World
Moesha
The Parkers
Eve
Wayans Bros.
Martin
Kenan & Kel
Cousin Skeeter
The PJ’s
The Game
Living Single
The Parent ‘Hood
South Central
Sister, Sister
Steve Harvey Show
K.C. Undercover
ANT Farm
Love That Girl!
Meet The Browns
Malcolm & Eddie
Everybody Hates Chris
House of Payne
My Wife & Kids
The Jamie Foxx Show
Family Matters
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Smart Guy
….but 14 nominations?
