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Through George’s unapologetically confrontational personality, the show offered sharp commentary on race issues. The Jeffersons also featured one of TV’s most memorable characters ever-George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley)-who moves his family from Queens to a Manhattan high rise after building a successful dry cleaning business. It began as a spinoff of All in the Family, but The Jeffersons ended up as the longest-running TV show ever featuring a mostly Black cast, spanning 11 seasons. The cast of ‘The Jeffersons’ (L-R Berlinda Tolbert, Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker and Marla Gibbs (seated), circa 1977. Amos later said he had been let go for taking issue with what he described as a lack of diversity among the show's writers and how the sitcom's Black characters were portrayed.
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John Amos who played the father James Evans Sr. The show wasn't without controversy, however. Like The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son and All in the Family, the show was created by legendary producer and writer Norman Lear, who fought to get progressive sitcoms with diverse casts on the air. Episodes showed how the family members stuck by each other in the face of unemployment, crime, racial bigotry and loss. But at the heart of the show was the strong bond shared by the Evans family. If Julia offered what many saw as an aspirational version of Black life, this sitcom set in the Chicago housing projects shone a light on the reality of many who were struggling to get by. In the front row, John Amos (left) and Jimmie Walker back row, from left, Ralph Carter, Bern Nadette Stanis, Ja'net DuBois, and Esther Rolle.