It was 50 years ago this month that the Norman Lear sitcom Sanford and Son debuted on NBC with Black stand-up comic Redd Foxx starring as Fred Sanford, an irascible junk dealer in the Watts area of Los Angeles, and Demond Wilson as Foxx’s beleaguered adult son. An instant ratings smash, it opened the door for other Black family shows to move into the virtually all-white TV neighborhood.
