Amos 'n' Andy: Radio Minstrelsy Reaches 40 Million Weekly Listeners

Amos 'n' Andy, created and performed by two white men (Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll) in blackface vocal style, began national radio broadcast in 1928 and reached an estimated 40 million weekly listeners by 1930 — roughly one-third of the U.S. population. The show depicted Black men as lazy, ignorant, scheming, and incompetent. The Pittsburgh Courier mounted a campaign against the show in 1931, collecting 740,000 signatures on a petition to NBC for cancellation. NBC refused. The show's portrayal shaped white American perception of Black people nationwide.