The Johnson Family

Another early instance of the blackface tradition on the radio The Johnson Family Hour was a one-man show starring voice actor Jimmy Scribner. In a manner that fans of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon will appreciate, Scribner spun his cast of slightly-eccentric rural denizens from the people who grew up around in his Southern hometown.

The African-American family was made up of the logically-named Mama, Papa, and Grandpa. Their daughter is named Lucy, and her boyfriend is Peewee. The Johnsons, Pewee, and other pals had quaint, everyday life adventures that contrasted with the crap-shooting, money-chasing comings and goings of Amos and Andy, Pick and Pat and The Two Black Crows.

The  The Johnson Family Hour radio show ran from 1934-1950.