The Cosby Show at 30: Reflections on Race, Parenting, Inequality and Education

This September marks the 30th anniversary of the debut of The Cosby Show—the landmark television sitcom starring comedian and philanthropist Bill Cosby and Tony Award winning actress Phylicia Rashad. That fall the duo inaugurated their roles of Heathcliff and Clair Hanks Huxtable, two highly educated, professional and upper middle-class African-American parents of five children. The series, which ran from 1984-1992—shortly before the re-election of Ronald Reagan and ending months before the election of Bill Clinton—consistently ranked in the top-5 among American television viewers, including five straight seasons (1985-1990) where it was the most popular television show in America.

To commemorate the anniversary of The Cosby Show’s debut, The Center for Arts, Digital Culture & Entrepreneurship (CADCE) at the Duke Consortium on Social Equity, in conjunction with the John Hope Franklin Center, is hosting a roundtable discussion, The Cosby Show at 30: Reflections on Race, Parenting, Inequality and Education, September 18, 2014 at 7:00pm at the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University (2204 Erwin Road).

Blair LM Kelley—Associate Professor of History and Assistant Dean for interdisciplinary studies and international programs at NC State University.

Wahneema Lubiano—Associate Professor of African & African American Studies and Literature at Duke University

Natalie Bullock Brown—Chair of the Department of Film and Interactive Media at Saint Augustine’s University

Joshua L. Lazard --C. Eric Lincoln Minister for Student Engagement at Duke University Chapel

Moderated by Mark Anthony Neal, Professor of African & African American Studies at Duke University and Director of the Center for Arts, Digital Culture & Entrepreneurship.