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- i'm really proud to have stumbled into playing the first black lesbian cop ever on television. again, way too late in history for that to have happened, 2002. - "the wire" inspired me so much because, again, we were with those young people, but we were also in their very adult world in their very adult challenges. in fact, it's one of the reasons why i reached out to michael b. jordan to be a producer for "david makes man," because i thought his performance as wallace in that show. i don't wanna cry. (laughs) we looked up in that young, powerful, caring individual, living at all of that turm...

- yeah. - we sat right here. - auntie, you know i was scared to death. - how has oprah changed the game? ownership. that is how it changed the game, having her own network in own, and saying, this is the type of programming i want on my network, and this is what we are going to do. and so, they did it. - federal government. - no backtalk. (bright upbeat music) - by having these three very different shows on at the same time, "queen sugar," "david makes man," "green leaf," there are myriad of stories to tell about black people. and you don't have to have like, "well, if we have our one, right? ...

The best tua, you are going to have to work, work your tights off. >> i ain't wearing no tights >> when you were a kid there was something with black people in it, it was appointment tv. when you saw black folks were going to be on you were sitting in front of the tv at that time. especially in the '70s? there is time that goes by and there is nothing and this is the only representation you have of yourself. >> the growth of african american actors in dramas have been amazing from being a guest star to lead characters to now we have "shaundaland." >> one of the most incredible genius people of...

And we weren't spending quite as much time with our white classmates 'cause we were a little pissed off. and i think we were also pissed off because we hadn't learned this in school. (chicken clucking) - bad chick. - one of the things about "roots," is that it was a book adaptation by alex haley, which led to other mini series, which were adapted by books by black authors, like "the women of brewster place," which was produced by oprah winfrey and starring oprah winfrey. - so, what's your idea of enjoying life butch fuller? running after every woman you see? - glory naylor's book, "women of br...

The journey of an african american family. you saw it up close and personal from getting his foot chopped off. it was so ground-breaking that both black and white people were watching it. >> it is assumed that people don't want to see black lives treated with any seriousness and i don't really believe that is true. i think that the success of "jane pitman" and "roots" does indicate americans white and black will watch blacks in significant dramatic roles. it was a game changer. they tried to get rid of it and discovered it was their gold mine. >> i think part of what made it so special and uni...