First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"The book is distinct and significant because it offers diverse audience-centered analyses of various media representations of African American Life and culture from the perspective of African American scholars. In doing so, the book privileges African American voices in offering insights into how media treatments impact and play a major role in the social formation of African Americans' cultural identity." -- J.D. Hamlet, CHOICE

Robin R. Means Coleman is Assistant Professor of Media Ecology in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University. She is author of African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy (Routledge 1998).

Acknowledgments. Contributors' biographies. Preface. 1. Introduction, Robin R Means Coleman. 2. 'Keepin' It Real' and/or 'Sellin' Out to the Man': African American Responses to Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks,Nancy C. Cornwell and Mark P. Orbe. 3. Black Audiences, Past and Present: Common Sense Media Critics and Activists, Catherine Squires. 4. Media Messages, Self Identity, and Race Relations: Reader Evaluations of News Magazines Coverage of the Milion Man March, Debbie Owens. 5. House Negro vs Field Negro: The Inscribed Image of Race in Television News Representations in African American Identity, Jennifer F. Wood. 6. DMX, Cosby, and Two Sides of the American Dream, Chyng F Sun, Leda Cooks, Corey Reinhardt and Stacy A.S. Williams. 7. 'Its Just Like Teaching People "DO THE RIGHT THINGS"': Using TV to Become a Good and Powerful Man, JoEllen Fisherkeller. 8. The Cosby Show: The View From the Black Middle Class, Leslie Innis and Joe Feagin. 9. The Color Purple: Black Women as Cultural Readers, Jacqueline Bobo. 10. 'America's Worst Nightmare': Reading the Ghetto in a Cultural Diverse Setting, Celeste Fisher. 11. The Menace II Society Copycat Murder Case and Thug Life: A Reception Study with a Convicted Criminal, Robin R. Means Coleman.