Sanford and Son and The Cosby Show: Junkyard Finds or Expensive Art

 

One of my father’s favorite shows was Sanford and Son, and it is the first show I remember featuring a primary cast of all black characters. Fred Sanford, played by Redd Foxx and his son owned a junkyard, and many of the of the show’s comedic storylines were based on schemes to make money for necessities like vehicle repairs or pay for traffic tickets. While the show touched on issues like race, it did so in a stereotypical way—Sanford was a poor black man who didn’t like white people because they were responsible for keeping him down.

That traditional depiction of Black America changed with the 80s debut of The Cosby Show. Instead of being undereducated and held back by society, Cliff and Claire Huxtable were the pinnacle of success. Claire was a lawyer and Cliff a doctor, they were ever present in the lives of their five children, owned a Brooklyn brownstone and instead of struggling to pay their bills, they bought expensive art and attended concerts of their favorite jazz performers.

Both shows introduced audiences to the Black experience, but those experiences were vastly different, and only one was presented as desirable. While the show was wildly successful, critics suggested that it reinforced the hegemonic idea that systemic racism was a thing of the past and that all anyone needed to do to be successful in life—in other words, wealthy—was to work hard and earn an education.

When comparing Sanford and Son and The Cosby Show, which one more accurately represented the realities of Black Americans? Did Sanford and Son reinforce stereotypes while The Cosby Show shattered them? Or was The Cosby Show guilty of ignoring the struggle most Black families experienced on their way to the top?