Struggles for Equal Voice: The History of African American Media Democracy

Yuya Kiuchi

Oct 2012 · State University of New York Press

About this ebook

While previous scholarship on African Americans and the media has largely focused on issues such as stereotypes and program content, Struggles for Equal Voice reveals how African Americans have utilized access to cable television production and viewership as a significant step toward achieving empowerment during the post–Civil Rights and Black Power era. In this pioneering study of two metropolitan districts—Boston and Detroit—Yuya Kiuchi paints a rich and fascinating historical account of African Americans working with municipal offices, local politicians, cable service providers, and other interested parties to realize fair African American representation and media ownership. Their success provides a useful lesson of community organizing, image production, education, and grassroots political action that remains relevant and applicable even today.

About the author

Yuya Kiuchi is Assistant Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures at Michigan State University. He is the cotranslator of the Japanese edition of Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.