Greatest Black Sitcoms Moms

[caj]

Perhaps I should've waited closer to Mother's Day to post this. CBR ranks the 10 best Black sitcom moms.

https://www.cbr.com/best-black-sitco...nson-black-ish

10 Rainbow “Bow” Johnson (Black-Ish)
09 Jay Kyle (My Wife And Kids)
08 Rochelle (Everybody Hates Chris)
07 Vivian Banks (The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air)
06 Harriette Winslow (Family Matters)
05 Lisa Landry (Sister Sister)
04 Tanya Baxter (That’s So Raven)
03 Louise Jefferson (The Jeffersons)
02 Clair Huxtable (The Cosby Show)
01 Florida Evans (Good Times)

[caj]

How could they have left off Mabel Thomas from What's Happening?

[JBatmanFan05]

Haven't seen enough shows, and many that I've seen (like the Cosby show) I haven't seen in years (so forgot a lot of moments and characterization), but definitely Vivian Banks would be my personal favorite. And Uncle Phil probably is the top dad. Vivian was such an interesting character with different dimensions (rich aristocrat, former activist, teacher, mother, etc) and the show used that well, same with Uncle Phil. It's also a bit that Vivian and Phil are more similar to my parents than the other black parents of the sitcom world, I think I could relate more.

[80sbaby]

Florida Evans was a HORRIBLE parent! She shouldn't be in this list and definitely not #1 smh this is just disrespectful to Claire Huxtable (and the others.)

[hyped78]

I haven't watched all of those sitcoms, but for me Vivian Banks (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) would take the top spot

[wleakr]

Florida Evans was a HORRIBLE parent! She shouldn't be in this list and definitely not #1 smh this is just disrespectful to Claire Huxtable (and the others.)

And what exactly makes her "horrible"?

She parented with the least amount of resources in a low-economic area - no way you leave her off the list.

[wleakr]

How could they have left off Mabel Thomas from What's Happening?

Agreed. She should have definitely been on, but guessing the writer really doesn't know the material well and just grasping, since Louise Jefferson was included and ranked high.

The Jeffersons had very little focus on parenting. Heck, Lionel was a full grown, out of the home man! And didn't appear much.

[Godzilla2099]

How could they have left off Mabel Thomas from What's Happening?

Agreed. She should have definitely been on, but guessing the writer really doesn't know the material well and just grasping, since Louise Jefferson was included and ranked high.

The Jeffersons had very little focus on parenting. Heck, Lionel was a full grown, out of the home man! And didn't appear much.

Mabel was a great mom to Roger and Dee from What's Happening.

That surprised me too. Lionel seemed like a good guy but he was a fully grown man and wasn't in the show that much. I never looked at Louise that much as a mom.

I'd also add Estelle Winslow to this list. The show focused on her as a Grandma but when you look at how good Carl turned out you know she did a great job as a mom herself. She was also one of the extreme few that was able to tolerate Urkel.

[80sbaby]

And what exactly makes her "horrible"?

She parented with the least amount of resources in a low-economic area - no way you leave her off the list.

And at every opportunity, she refused to get her family out of poverty. She would complain about James getting a better job, be overly righteous at the expense of her family, praised "White Jesus" non-stop to the family's detriment, etc. Her having less resources is irrelevant to why she's a bad mother.

[Jokerz79]

I agree with Mabel King as Mabel Thomas on What's Happening and I'd like to add while not biological Nell Carter as Nell Harper on Gimme a Break.

[Tofali]

Vivian Banks and Weezy were my favourites I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten along with a Claire Huxtable or Florida Evans in real life

[caj]

I agree with Mabel King as Mabel Thomas on What's Happening and I'd like to add while not biological Nell Carter as Nell Harper on Gimme a Break.

Nell was a mom to those girls in every sense of the word except biological. I may be giving them too much credit, but they may have omitted Nell due to Gimme a Break not technically being a black sitcom. Nell and Addy were the only African American regulars on the show.

[wleakr]

And at every opportunity, she refused to get her family out of poverty. She would complain about James getting a better job, be overly righteous at the expense of her family, praised "White Jesus" non-stop to the family's detriment, etc. Her having less resources is irrelevant to why she's a bad mother.

You definitely viewed the show quite differently from most.

Challenging for a black family to elevate above poverty in the 70's, so saying she "refused" to do so is a bit of a stretch.

In my eyes, a bad mother would be along the lines of a Peggy Bundy. A character I absolutely love, but her parenting skills are definitely not top tier.

[80sbaby]

You definitely viewed the show quite differently from most.

Challenging for a black family to elevate above poverty in the 70's, so saying she "refused" to do so is a bit of a stretch.

In my eyes, a bad mother would be along the lines of a Peggy Bundy. A character I absolutely love, but her parenting skills are definitely not top tier.

Not really. It's pretty much a well-worn trope among a lot of black Americans that Florida was pretty terrible lol

Go ahead and Google "Florida Evans the villain/trash."

[CaptCleghorn]

Agreed. She should have definitely been on, but guessing the writer really doesn't know the material well and just grasping, since Louise Jefferson was included and ranked high.

The Jeffersons had very little focus on parenting. Heck, Lionel was a full grown, out of the home man! And didn't appear much.

So true about The Jeffersons, unless you consider Louise mothering George. Which leads me to ask if Zara Cully's Mother Jefferson even considered for this list?