By: Briana Terrazas Drama of Diversity Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden began a radio show in Chicago in the early 1920s by simply singing along with their two instruments they played. That wasn’t enough for Chicago’s WGN, soon enough someone came up with idea of dramatic dialogue. Sam and Henry was debuted on January 12, Click Above for 1926 with the story line of episode of Sam two Alabama “negro” n Henry characters finding their way in Chicago. Soon Gosdell and Correll wanted to branch out to other radio stations. WGN refused and the pair left to NBC having to change the name to Amos and Andy. The material for Amos and Andy was all written by Gosdell and Correll. They had to change a few things now that they were apart of NBC. The characters now came from Atlanta and they belonged to a different group. But in the end the storyline was basically the same. Amos and Andy soon attracted a large amount of listeners. The East and West fought over the time the show was aired and soon the show had two air times a day. By 1930 theatres were forced to broadcast evening shows of Amos and Andy. This craze lasted two years. In the 1930s some people started to criticize Amos and Andy for the dialect and lower class references even though many African Americans thought the show was humorous. There was a campaign against the program brought by the Pittsburgh Courier but it was quickly dismissed. http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/ amosandy.htm Link on left to listen to Amos and Andy show Amos and Andy’s final broadcast was on November 19th 1943. In the fall Gosden and Correll brought the show back but airing it on television. The television show lasted for two years.
This link sends you to the http://www.youtube.com/watch? very first TV episode v=2FMB8EkrHf8 where you see Gosden and Correll introducing the actors for the show. The African American community began to see Amos and Andy as a return to the time of “blackface” and minesltry.” The controversy surrounding the show soon became as popular as the radio show had become. "Neither CBS nor the programs' creators were prepared for the change in national temperament after the Second World War ... Within black America, a new political consciousness and a new awareness of the importance of image had emerged." Donald Bogel-media historian. Works Cited "Amos 'n Andy, TV 50's Sitcom, Radio, and Lost Art of Comedy." Amos 'n Andy, TV 50's Sitcom, Radio, and Lost Art of Comedy. RK PUMA, 2010. Web. 16 Sept. 2012.