Television

Woman seated in living room next to television set
Woman seated in living room next to television set, undated, Royal E. Towns papers, MS 26, African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
KPIX News (left-right) Rollin Post, Helen Bentley, Ben Williams [003] circa 1960s
KPIX News (left-right) Rollin Post, Helen Bentley, Ben Williams, circa 1960s, Benjamin V. Williams papers, MS 194, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
(left:) Portrait of Chuck Johnson, executive producer of Soulbeat TV, (right:) Soulbeat press release
Soul Beat (1978–2003) was a public access television station founded and run by Chuck Johnson (c.1939-2004) that originally aired on KEMO Channel 20 in Oakland. Soul Beat Television was among the earliest Black-owned music video networks in the country, introducing Oakland artists such as Too $hort, MC Hammer, En Vogue, and others. (left:) Portrait of Chuck Johnson, executive producer of Soulbeat TV, (right:) Soulbeat press release, circa 1990s, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.

This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO recognizing African Americans in Bay Area television history. See also the related resource guides on Black film and broadcast journalism.

It highlights holdings in the following areas:

● Selected Library Material at AAMLO
● Selected Archival Collections at AAMLO

Other collections may contain relevant materials. Please contact AAMLO (aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org) with any questions or to schedule an appointment to view materials in person.

Selected Library Materials

Historical Dictionary of African American Television

Blacks on Television: a Selectively Annotated Bibliography

Black Women in Television: An Illustrated History and Bibliography

Directory of Black film/TV Technicians & Artists, West Coast | Los Angeles : Togetherness Productions, 1980-

I See Black People: the Rise and Fall of African American-owned Television and Radio by Kristal Brent Zook

African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy by Robin R. Means Coleman

Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for "Blackness" by Herman Gray

Blacks and White TV: African Americans in Television Since 1948 by J. Fred MacDonald

Collage showing KTVU's Romper Room and Miss Sharon
The popular preschooler's show Romper Room began airing a franchised Bay Area program on KGO-TV in the late 1950's. Sharon Jeffery ("Miss Sharon"), a teacher with the Oakland Unified School District, hosted and produced the program from May 1987 until the show's final episode in 1992. "Miss Sharon" was the only African American host and the final teacher on the last Romper Room in the United States. (top:) Wysinger Jones family appears on Romper Room, undated, Ambrosia Wysinger Jones papers, MS 27, African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. (bottom:) Vitae of Sharon Jeffery included in KTVU Romper Room press packet, circa 1990s, African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection, MS 179, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
The Righteous Apples, a production of the Rainbow Television Workshop
The Righteous Apples, a production of the Rainbow Television Workshop, from the 1980 Directory of Black film/TV Technicians & Artists, West Coast [Los Angeles : Togetherness Productions, 1980-]

Selected Archival Collections

Jay Payton on the set of “The Jay Payton Show”
Jay Payton on the set of The Jay Payton Show, circa 1970s, Jay Payton papers, MS 205, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Jay Payton Papers. Legendary Bay Area emcee Jay Payton (1925-2016) was born William J Payton on Oct. 29, 1925 in Asheville, North Carolina. Beginning in 1972 Payton hosted the KEMO-TV music show “Soul Is” (later “The Jay Payton Show”), a weekly entertainment show on Channel 20 featuring national and Bay Area African American musicians and performers. The Jay Payton Papers consists of 2 quad videotapes of “The Jay Payton Show” recorded in 1976, photographs of Jay Payton at various events and with performers on the “Soul Is” and “The Jay Payton Show,” and certificates of distinction awarded to Payton for his contribution to Bay Area entertainment. You can view episodes of the "Jay Payton Show" online on AAMLO's pages at the Internet Archive.

Ida Dunson Videotape Collection. The Ida Dunson videotape collection includes 12 U-matic videotapes of television programs aired on the Bay Cablevision Programming Network Channel 28 between 1990-1992. The bulk of the videotapes are episodes of NAACP Reading and Writing for Literacy on various professions in education, religion, library science, health and medical professions, music, engineering, business, and journalism.

Oakland Post Photograph Collection. Photographs appearing in the Oakland Post newspaper between 1963-2005 include portraits and publicity stills of popular Black television actors and creators including Lena Horne, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Redd Foxx, Diahann Carroll, Clarence Williams, Fred Williamson, Marla Gibbs, Oprah Winfrey, and many others. Included also are photographs of Soul Beat (Oakland's Black-owned public access station) founder, Chuck Johnson, as well as photographs of Soul Beat's annual Hollywood Awards Ball and Dinner.

Ruth Beckford Papers. Dancer, teacher, and author Ruth Beckford (1925-2019) joined Katherine Dunham’s Company in 1943, training for three weeks before performing with the company at shows on the West Coast. In 1954 Beckford started her own dance company, Ruth Beckford African-Haitian Dance Company, which toured across the country performing African and Haitian dances. After retiring from dance, Beckford shifted to writing and acting. In 1974, she signed with Grimme talent agency and she performed in theater productions at the Oakland Ensemble Theater and parts in various television and movie roles. She appeared in Maya Angelou’s made-for-television movies Circles and Tapestry, the PBS television series Up and Coming, movie roles in The Principal (1987), Angels in the Outfield (1994), America’s Dream (1996), and in television commercials for Safeway, JC Penny, and Little Debbie Snacks. Also included in the Beckford Papers is 16mm footage of Beckford dancing in a 1968 Channel 9 television program on African-Haitian dance. 

Collage of promotional material for KQED's Up and Coming
Up and Coming aired for 15 episodes on KQED-TV San Francisco during the 1980-1981 television season. Created to look at a family "mov[ing] from a lower class, Black neighborhood in San Francisco to a more affluent, integrated area of the city," the production featured guest stars including Esther Rolle, Rosalind Cash, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, David Hubbard, Laurence Fishburne, and dancer Ruth Beckford. The series attempted to "present a more positive and varied perspective of Black life" in San Francisco than was produced in television at the time and was one of the earliest weekly American TV drama series centered on an African American family. (clockwise from top-left): Gift Harris, Ruth Beckford, and Yule Caise on set of Up and Coming, April 20, 1980, (top-right): The Wilson family teens (l-r, standing) Kevin (L. Wolfe Perry, Stanford University actor and basketball player) Valerie (Cindy Herron, founding member of En Vogue), and Marcus (Yule Caise, then-student at ACT Conservatory) and their parents Joyce and Frank Wilson (Gamy L. Taylor and Robert DoQui), (bottom:) Up and Coming promotion packet, Ruth Beckford papers, MS 60, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education Oral History Collection. The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education Oral History Collection consists of 29 oral history interviews conducted in 2001 by Earl Caldwell with prominent black journalists that began their careers during the 1960s-1970s. A majority of the interviewees worked at television stations or newspapers in California or New York. View items from the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education Oral History Collection on AAMLO's pages at the Internet Archive. 

Benjamin V. Williams Papers. Journalist and television reporter Benjamin Vernon Williams (1927-2012)the first African American television reporter in northern California. While working as a television news reporter at KPIX, he covered stories on the Free Speech Movement on the University of California Berkeley campus, Vietnam War protests, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, the Black Panther Party, Symbionese Liberation Army’s kidnapping of Patty Heart, and the trial of serial killer Juan Corona. View news reports by Williams online on AAMLO's pages at the Internet Archive. 

Kid Power TV ad
ABC Saturday Morning advertisement for Kid Power, 1972, Morrie Turner Papers, MS 24, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Morrie Turner Papers. Morrie Turner (1923-2014) was the first nationally syndicated African American cartoonist. In the 1960’s, Turner created “Wee Pals,” a comic strip about an ethnically diverse group of friends. The “Wee Pals” originally appeared in only 5 newspapers but eventually grew to national syndicatoin. In 1972, ABC together with Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment produced 17 episodes of Kid Power, an animated version of the Wee Pals, for their Saturday morning cartoon lineup. During the 1972-73 television season, Wee Pals on the Go was produced by, KGO-TV San Francisco. Wee Pals on the Go featured live actors portraying the main characters of Turner's strip: Nipper, Randy, Sybil, Connie and Oliver.

African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection. Selected items include

  • Blacks in American film and television directories (undated)
  • Television publications including KQED Black History Month resource guides, KTVU Romper Room press packets, and material published by Peralta Colleges Television
  • Documents related to the Bay Area Black Journalists Association
  • Oscar Micheaux awards ceremony programs for the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc. 
  • California Newsreel promotional material for Ethnic Notions
Ethnic notions : Black people with white minds, California Newsreel brochure
Ethnic notions: Black people with white minds, California Newsreel brochure, 1987, African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection, MS 179, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

W. Hazaiah Williams Papers. Includes correspondence, notes, and preliminary outlines for the 1968 Growing Black Consciousness and Dialogue television shows on KTVU Channel 2 produced by the theologian, civil rights activist, and educator William Hazaiah Williams Jr. (1930-1999).

Director Stan Lathan (left) and choreographer Alvin Ailey collaborate on setting a dance for the television production of "Alvin Ailey : Memories and Visions," a WNET/13 Soul! Special
Director Stan Lathan (left) and choreographer Alvin Ailey collaborate on setting a dance for the television production of "Alvin Ailey : Memories and Visions," a WNET/13 Soul! Special, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Elihu M. Harris Papers. The papers of former Mayor of Oakland Elihu M. Harris (1947-) include office files related to the Sacramento urban television network television launch in 1995.

Ruth Acty Papers. The papers of educator, author, and actor Ruth Acty (1913-1998) include Acty's class notes while attending the summer Radio & Television Institute at Stanford University in 1956. Course materials include the Stanford University Radio & Television Institute brochure, class schedule, and course materials and notes on "Applications of radio and television for the school and community" and "Television writing and production."

Ronald V. Dellums Congressional Papers. Dellums' 27-year career (1971-1998) as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives contains files related to television news broadcasts, H.R. 1017 (Parents' Voice in Television Act of 1997), H.J. Res 710 Children's Awareness Week, and Black Entertainment Television (BET).

African American Museum & Library at Oakland Audiovisual Collection. Includes copies of assorted television news and California State University East Bay Television broadcasts on various topics related to African American history, culture and experience. 

Brownie McGhee Papers. In addition his notoriety as a blues musician, Walter B. "Brownie" McGhee (1915-1996) enjoyed a long career in stage, film, and television including episodes of Family Ties and Matlock. McGhee discusses his acting career in oral history interviews recorded between 1990-1995. Listen to McGhee's oral history on AAMLO's pages at the Internet Archive.

African Americans Affected by the East Bay Hills Fire Oral History Collection. The African Americans Affected by the East Bay Hills Fire Oral History Collection consists of 10 interviews conducted from 1993 to 1995 with African Americans who were living in the East Bay during the Oakland hills firestorm of October 1991. Included is an interview with Chuck Johnson, founder of the Oakland public access television station Soul Beat. You can listen online on AAMLO's pages at the Internet Archive. 

Fred Williamson and Diahann Carroll
Fred Williamson and Diahann Carroll [press release for NBC's Julia enclosed], 1970, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Morrie Turner appearing on Sunday television program
Morrie Turner appearing on Sunday television program, circa 1970s, Morrie Turner Papers, MS 24, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Warner Amex Qube poll asking "Should Martin Luther King's birthday be a national holiday?"
Warner Amex Qube poll on Martin Luther King Jr. Day's approval as a federal holiday, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Additional Information

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