My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 144

Greaves’ black barbershop metaphor
reflected another dynamic, as well — a
privileging of black male experience and
perspectives in programming decisions.
Like much of the black freedom
struggle, the leadership of Black Journal
grappled with contradictory — and
sometimes troubling — gender politics.
Women in 1960s media and advertising
were relegated to menial and often
demeaning labor as typified in the
contemporary drama “Mad Men,” and
Black Journal was not immune to these
traditions. In 1970, for example, the
female employees of Newsweek magazine
filed a landmark lawsuit to protest the
sex discrimination they experienced
in the workplace. At least a half-dozen
women negotiated the gendered terrain
at Black Journal to gain a foothold in
television, contributing their political
and artistic vision along the way.

BLACK RENAISSANCE NOIRE

During the production team’s weekly
meetings, Greaves used what he
called the “black barbershop” test.
“In the black barbershop, you get a lot
of the issues that concern the black
community,” he said. “So after the
producers would present their ideas,
I would then say, `Now will this fly
in a black barbershop? If it does, it gets
the green light; if it doesn’t, off with its
head.’” In Greave’s view, Black Journal
targeted both the black masses and
black opinion leaders, while staying
mindful of white viewers “especially
those within the white community
who feel that it is not for them, who
are often surprised and irritated by
the content of our shows.” The show’s
staff articulated an activist vision of
television’s potential. Executive editor
Lou Potter told a press conference:
“Television has to start proposing viable
solutions, rather than just defining
problems.” Similarly, in an essay for an
industry journal, Greaves argued that
Black Journal’s programming should
focus on projects that “assist the black
community in its problem solving efforts.”

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Most of the protestors returned to
Black Journal after the settlement, and
Greaves oversaw a nearly all-black
filmmaking and production crews, an
opportunity he had craved for years.
This was an historic moment — the
first time African Americans had
the authority to develop and design
a recurring television show. net’s
management, chastened by the publicity
of the walk-out, pledged to allow
Greaves room to maneuver. One
former net executive recalled that
each month, when Black Journal went
on the air, “one could almost hear the
collective sucking in of breath as the
more timorous of the affiliates waited
to see what provocations the show’s
black producers might release.” These
provocations came not only from
the topics selected for discussion, but
from the creative culture that emerged.
Greaves insisted that the staff create
content that directly addressed African
American audiences, rather than a
largely white, middle-class public which
was the target for commercial broadcasters
and advertisers. In so doing, the
program inverted the conventions of
television programming to create an
early version of “narrowcasting.”