Flip Wilson Quotes
A show hosted by a black had never been accepted, so the first time that knob's turned on, people are judging against all they have ever been taught. I may have been the first black in the house.
Wilson, Flip. Jet, vol. 64, no. 10, Johnson Publishing Company, 16 May 1983, p. 60.
Amazing as it is to most Americans today, the first time there was an interracial kiss depicted on television was on the Science Fiction TV Show Star Trek in the late 1960s. Although the public reaction was not as hostile as the television executives and politicians of the time feared, there were organized boycotts of NBC and many death threats to the actors, writers, producers and executives.
At the beginning of the 21st century there were substantial demographic changes in America which eroded the majority historically held in America by White Christians. A smaller proportion of the American population were identifying with any religion. At the same time that Blacks and Hispanics were a larger proportion of new immigrants than were whites. And those minority groups both had a fertility rate that was substantially grater than that of whites. The result was that in the early 21st century the white Christians were losing their majority status in America.
Clerow "Flip" Wilson Jr. was an American comedian and actor best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1970 to 1974, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series The Flip Wilson Show, and introduced viewers to his recurring character Geraldine. The series earned Wilson a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards, and it was the second highest-rated show on network television for a time. Wilson was the first African American to host a successful TV variety show. In January 1972, Time magazine featured Wilson's image on its cover and named him "TV's first black superstar". He released a number of comedy albums in the 1960s and 1970s and won a Grammy Award for his 1970 album The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress.
