During the Great Depression The Amos 'n' Andy Show provided comic relief to a nation reeling from rapid deflation and skyrocketing unemployment. The day after the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, the following exchange took place on the Amos 'n' Andy radio show—Andy: "Is you been keepin' yo' eye on de stock market?" Lightnin': "Nosah, I ain't never seed it." Andy: "Well, de stock market crashed!" Lightnin': "Anybody git hurt?" Andy: "Well, 'course, Lightnin', when de stock market crashes, it hurts bizness men. Dat's whut puts de repression on things." Clearly, the show gave down-on-their-luck Americans a cast of characters at whom they could laugh and with whom they could identify. But there was more at stake on the show than economic satire. In its television incarnation in the 1950s and 1960s, the show became...