Empire and Black Images in Popular Culture

Joshua K. Wright, Ph.D., is an associate professor of history in the Global Studies Department at Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC. He is the host of Woke History, a new podcast series streaming on the National Public Radio (NPR) One app.

• Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: The Empire State of Mind—The Birth of a Cultural Phenomenon1. The Lyon Family Hustle: A New Look at the Black Family on TV2. Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom: Lucious Lyon and the Black Outlaw’s American Dream3. The Name’s Cookie, Ask About Me: The Fierce and Flawed Feminism of Cookie Lyon4. My Three Sons: Reflections on Black Masculinity in Empire5. Lee Daniels Doesn’t Care About Black People! Representation vs. Exploitation6. The Empire Effect: The Revolution Will Be Televised!Chapter NotesBibliographyIndex

“This seminal book unapologetically and authentically explores layered images of African Americans connected to, or at least coeval, with the television drama Empire. With amazing clarity and nuanced thoroughness the author provides compelling examples of a television programming renaissance and a kaleidoscope of portrayals that transcend stereotypes. This wonderful book splendidly detangles pernicious media myths and shows that television is not an impenetrable cultural bubble.”—Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, Howard University; “I am truly impressed with the book’s subject matter and content. What I especially commend Dr. Wright for is his thorough contextualization of the images of African Americans in Empire. Armed with past and current film and television series images and representations of African Americans interwoven with sociological and historical research, Wright’s examination of the father, the mother, the sons, and the characters together as a black family in Empire shows how the images of African Americans have changed while remaining the same. Furthermore, the empirical audience research is quite useful for assessing African Americans’ reception of Empire. Finally, tracking the ‘Empire Effect’ provides a 21st century starting point for gauging the exodus and exile of African Americans’ involvement in television in the decades to come.”—Angela Nelson, Bowling Green State University.