Black actors don’t want to be your sidekick
22 April - 40 minsFrom Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee on The Guiding Light to the first Black super-couple, Jesse and Angie on All My Children, Black soap actors have been on the canvas.
According to an executive at CBS, Black women overindex as soap watchers, which has led to the first new daytime soap in decades. Beyond the Gates debuted with a core Black family in February 2025. It’s an exciting time to be a Black soap fan.
Even though there’s been Black representation, Black writers and actors have often had to push to be more than sidekicks, according to soap writer Shannon Peace.
“You see the faces; they’re there,” Peace said. “But what are the storylines? Why do we still feel often like they’...
Series Episodes
Meet Irna Phillips: The Queen of Daytime
Meet the Chicago woman who birthed the soap opera, first for radio in the 1930s and then TV in the 1950s.
21 mins
8 April Finished
