America's Bandstand: 1957-1964
The history of discrimination on American Bandstand
is important because it was the first television show to construct an
image of national youth culture. Through a range of production
strategies, American Bandstand
encouraged the show’s viewers, advertisers, and television affiliates
to see the program as the thread that stitched together different
teenagers in different parts of the country into a coherent and
recognizable national youth culture. From large markets like San
Francisco and New Orleans, to small towns like Lawton, Oklahoma and
Waukegan, Illinois, American Bandstand
invited viewers to consume the sponsors’ snacks and soft drinks along
with the latest music and dances. More importantly, the program
encouraged teenagers to imagine themselves as part of a national
audience participating in the same consumption rituals at the same time.
The central problem facing American Bandstand’s
producers was that their show’s marketability depended on both the
creative energies of black performers and the erasure of black
teenagers. Although American Bandstand’s
music and dances were influenced by deejays Georgie Woods, Mitch
Thomas, and their black teenage fans, the image of youth culture American Bandstand
presented to its national audience bore little resemblance to the
interracial makeup of Philadelphia’s rock and roll scene. As the
television program that did the most to define the image of youth in the
late-1950s and early-1960s, the exclusionary racial practices of American Bandstand marginalized black teens from this imagined national youth culture.
is important because it was the first television show to construct an
image of national youth culture. Through a range of production
strategies, American Bandstand
encouraged the show’s viewers, advertisers, and television affiliates
to see the program as the thread that stitched together different
teenagers in different parts of the country into a coherent and
recognizable national youth culture. From large markets like San
Francisco and New Orleans, to small towns like Lawton, Oklahoma and
Waukegan, Illinois, American Bandstand
invited viewers to consume the sponsors’ snacks and soft drinks along
with the latest music and dances. More importantly, the program
encouraged teenagers to imagine themselves as part of a national
audience participating in the same consumption rituals at the same time.
The central problem facing American Bandstand’s
producers was that their show’s marketability depended on both the
creative energies of black performers and the erasure of black
teenagers. Although American Bandstand’s
music and dances were influenced by deejays Georgie Woods, Mitch
Thomas, and their black teenage fans, the image of youth culture American Bandstand
presented to its national audience bore little resemblance to the
interracial makeup of Philadelphia’s rock and roll scene. As the
television program that did the most to define the image of youth in the
late-1950s and early-1960s, the exclusionary racial practices of American Bandstand marginalized black teens from this imagined national youth culture.
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