Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [20]
“I stopped wanting to be white when I was ten years old and saw Diana Ross and The Supremes perform on The Ed Sullivan Show,” Oprah said. “I was watching television on the linoleum floor in my mother’s apartment [on a Sunday night].… I’ll never forget it.… It was the first time I had ever seen a colored person wearing diamonds that I knew were real.… I wanted to be Diana Ross.… I had to be Diana Ross.”
The phones had started ringing in the inner cities of Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee a few days before Christmas 1964: The Supremes were going to be on The Ed Sullivan Show, then the premier showcase for talent in America.
“Colored girls” on prime-time television were like Yankees in Atlanta—enough to give Southerners the vapors and sponsors the bends. But Ed Sullivan, who had an integrationist booking policy, was not to be deterred. He had introduced Elvis Presley to television audiences in 1956, and had launched the Beatles in America earlier in 1964. He was determined to present what he called “three colored gifts” from Motown who had produced three number one hits that year. His decision came five months after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which put the federal government squarely behind the drive for racial equality in the country. Now Ed Sullivan was going to change the national mind-set.
Up to that point blacks had seen themselves portrayed on television primarily as scheming scalawags (Amos and Andy), wire-haired scamps (Buckwheat in Little Rascals and Our Gang), or “yes, ma’am” maids and “no, sir” chauffeurs. To see themselves presented with beauty and grace and elegance would be revolutionary, and to be applauded by whites was almost unimaginable.
The Supremes appeared fourteen times on The Ed Sullivan Show between 1964 and 1969, but the impact of their first appearance, on December 27, 1964, cannot be overstated. It was a clarifying moment for the country as both ends of the racial spectrum came together to be entranced and entertained by three exquisite young women singing “Come See About Me.”
“Many felt pride seeing The Supremes [that evening],” recalled Diahann Carroll, the first African American woman to star in her own television series (Julia, 1968–1971). “Young people will have to understand, that period of dreams and civil rights taught all of us in entertainment how to find our stepping-stones. It taught us how to pull others up in a manner that was beneficial to all people.”
As someone who started dreaming that night, Oprah never forgot how she felt watching The Supremes. “In those days, anytime you saw a black person on television, it was so rare that everybody called everybody else, saying: ‘Colored people are on.’ You’d miss the performance because by the time you called everyone, the act was over. I remember saying, ‘What? A colored woman can look like that?’ Another electrifying moment was seeing Sidney Poitier. I was watching the Academy Awards [in 1964] and Sidney Poitier won for Lilies of the Field. That was the first time I ever saw a black man get out of a limousine instead of driving one.… I remember thinking, ‘If a colored man could do that, I wonder what I can do.’ He opened the door for me.”
Symbolically, cymbals clashed, drums rolled, and trumpets blew throughout black America that year. It was a new beginning for people of color to see their own portrayed with style and sophistication on television. Motown Music had invested thousands of dollars grooming The Supremes for mainstream stardom—charm school, makeup lessons, splendid wigs, beaded gowns, sparkling jewelry—and the investment paid off. Among the thousands of black children watching Ed Sullivan that evening were a six-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl, both hypnotized by the dazzling style of the lithe lead singer. Each child would grow up to become a reflection of the glamour they