# Earliest example of ahistorical diversity in entertainment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182 "2019-01-04T05:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/1 "2019-01-04T05:29:50Z")
For comics I would say Gabe Jones of the Howling Commandos. For TV, Kinchloe in Hogan’s Heroes? …and no I don’t remember anyone complaining about ‘forced diversity’. I would guess plain ol vanilla bald-faced racism trumped that in them thar days. And no, I don’t consider any of The Little Rascals or Franklin to be ahistorical. Franklin from experience and I could be utterly wrong about The Rascals. But I don’t consider it utterly impossible that a group of impoverished kids could be so diverse.\* Now…said kids dragging a mule into a rich white woman’s home without serious repercussions? \*But i could be wrong. I know on the face of it that what Hal Roach did was daring. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/2 "2019-01-04T05:53:52Z")
Othello? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/3 "2019-01-04T06:00:53Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > For comics I would say Gabe Jones of the Howling Commandos. Actually, [Easy Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Company_(comics)) under Sgt. Rock (1959) included the African-American Jackie Johnson, and predated the Howling Commandos (1963). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/4 "2019-01-04T06:06:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Actually, [Easy Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Company_(comics)) under Sgt. Rock (1959) included the African-American Jackie Johnson, and predated the Howling Commandos (1963). Correction: Jackie Johnson wasn’t introduced until [December 1961,](http://www.freaksugar.com/cest-la-guerre-introducing-jackie-johnson/) but he still preceded Gabe Jones. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/5 "2019-01-04T07:02:28Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Othello? Ahistorical? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/6 "2019-01-04T07:16:20Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Ahistorical? Remind me when history ended, again? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/7 "2019-01-04T07:16:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Actually, [Easy Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Company_(comics)) under Sgt. Rock (1959) included the African-American Jackie Johnson, and predated the Howling Commandos (1963). You left out Little Sure Shot. When did DC introduce Johnny Cloud the Navajo Ace? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/8 "2019-01-04T07:33:54Z")
_ **Home of the Brave** _ (1949) with Lloyd Bridges had a black Marine on a combat mission in the South Pacific during WWII. While there were black Marines at the time, they were relegated to support roles and very seldom saw action. In the play of the same name, the character was Jewish. > **[Home of the Brave (1949 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_of_the_Brave_(1949_film))** > > Home of the Brave is a 1949 war film based on a 1946 play by Arthur Laurents. It was directed by Mark Robson, and stars Douglas Dick, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, James Edwards, and Steve Brodie. The original play featured the protagonist being Jewish, rather than black. The National Board of Review named the film the eighth best of 1949. The film takes its name from the last line of the "Star Spangled Banner" "And the home of the brave?" > Home of the Brave managed to combine three o... Sixteen years later, _ **None but the Brave** _ (1965) with Frank Sinatra was also about an integrated USMC unit during WWII. > **[None but the Brave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_but_the_Brave)** > > None but the Brave (Japanese: 勇者のみ, Hepburn: Yūsha Nomi, lit. 'Only the Brave') is a 1965 epic anti-war film directed by Frank Sinatra, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced by Tokyo Eiga, Toho, and Sinatra Enterprises, it was the first film to be internationally co-produced between Japan and the United States. > During an unspecified period of World War II, a platoon of 16 Japanese soldiers is stranded on an island in the Solomon Archipelago with no means of communicating with the outs... ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/9 "2019-01-04T07:51:39Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Remind me when history ended, again? 😕 Your non-sequitur does not appear to be a sensible response to the question ‘Ahistorical?’ which could also be translated as ‘What’s so ahistorical about a Moroccan soldier in a 16th century Italian city?’ Try again? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/10 "2019-01-04T15:34:23Z")
Sir Palomedes the Saracen, knight of the Round Table, friend to King Pellinore, rival to Sir Tristan. > **[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palamedes_(Arthurian_legend))** > > Palamedes /pæləˈmiːdiːz/ (also called Palomides /pæləˈmaɪdiːz/, or some other variant such as the French Palamède; known as li Sarradins that is "the Saracen") is a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is a Middle Eastern pagan who converts to Christianity later in his life, and his unrequited love for Iseult brings him into frequent conflict with Tristan. Palamedes' father King Esclabor and brothers Safir and Segwarides also join the Round Table. The romance Palamedes was nam... > [@](#): > > Palamedes first appears in the Prose Tristan, an early 13th-century prose expansion of the Tristan and Iseult legend. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/11 "2019-01-04T18:05:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You left out Little Sure Shot. > > When did DC introduce Johnny Cloud the Navajo Ace? Unlike African Americans, Native Americans were accepted in regular combat units in WWII. (A famous example was [Ira Hayes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Hayes), a Pima who was one of the flag-raisers at Iwo Jima.) So as an Apache, Little Sure Shot could have been serving in Easy Company and so would be historically accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/12 "2019-01-04T19:22:17Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Unlike African Americans, Native Americans were accepted in regular combat units in WWII. (A famous example was [Ira Hayes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Hayes), a Pima who was one of the flag-raisers at Iwo Jima.) So as an Apache, Little Sure Shot could have been serving in Easy Company and so would be historically accurate. Yeah Native Americans weren’t segregated, in fact only African-Americans and Japanese-Americans were segregated, even Chinese-Anericans fought in “White” units. In both the book and movie “To Hell and Back” one of Audie Murphys squadmates was a Native American which was accurate to his real squad. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/13 "2019-01-04T21:01:55Z")
Sucking the fun out of this topic, I could suggest that any Hollywood or Broadway work that showed ‘typical’ American life as being entirely comprised of whites, without showing the relevant presence of African-American, Hispanic or other people who made up the the ‘help’, and working class that kept the whole thing moving is quite an ahistorical representation of diversity. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/14 "2019-01-04T21:10:44Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > Sucking the fun out of this topic, I could suggest that any Hollywood or Broadway work that showed ‘typical’ American life as being entirely comprised of whites, without showing the relevant presence of African-American, Hispanic or other people who made up the the ‘help’, and working class that kept the whole thing moving is quite an ahistorical representation of diversity. I don’t think it sucks the fun out of it. Now you’ve got me thinking of older shows I’m familiar enough with to remember “the help”. Whether in the background or in bit parts. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/15 "2019-01-04T22:01:06Z")
Credit must be given to the Native American Code Talkers (popularized as WindTalkers in John Woo’s 2002 movie) who served during WWI & WWII (years unknown as their existence was classified until 1968) to pass on messages in their native tongues. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code\_talker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker) ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/16 "2019-01-04T22:10:30Z")
In 1951 there was _Go For Broke!_ which was about the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during WWII. The 442nd was comprised of all Nisei (2nd generation Japanese/American) soldiers except for the officers. Trivia: Risking it all. Originating as a gambling term when shooting craps in the Hawaiian immigrant camps. You would “Go For Broke!” (in Hawaiian pidgin English, “Go fo brok” (Win or lose it all) on a single throw of the dice. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/17 "2019-01-04T22:35:18Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > Sucking the fun out of this topic, I could suggest that any Hollywood or Broadway work that showed ‘typical’ American life as being entirely comprised of whites, without showing the relevant presence of African-American, Hispanic or other people who made up the the ‘help’, and working class that kept the whole thing moving is quite an ahistorical representation of diversity. Perhaps, but many parts of the US were _de facto_ segregated in the past even if not officially so. For example, the working-class Irish-Italian neighborhood in the Bronx I grew up in during the 1950s was effectively a no-go zone for blacks or Hispanics. I saw almost none in the area until the 1970s. (Now however the area is mostly Hispanic and black plus a smattering of about every other ethnic group imaginable.) Depicting life in that particular neighborhood at that time as being exclusively white would be historically correct. Of course once you got on the subway to go somewhere else things were different. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/18 "2019-01-04T22:40:52Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I don’t think it sucks the fun out of it. Now you’ve got me thinking of older shows I’m familiar enough with to remember “the help”. Whether in the background or in bit parts. Some shows like [_Beulah_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beulah_(radio_and_TV_series)) featured “the help” as the main stars. On _The Real McCoys_, hired hand Pepino Garcia was a significant character. _The Jack Benny Show_ had Rochester. The sassy black maid/cook/nanny was a standard part of many shows. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/19 "2019-01-04T22:42:42Z")
Ah…re-reading the OP, I see it’s ahistorical, not factual history being looked for. Then wouldn’t works like Robin Hood qualify as there’s no proven historical proof is his existence. Same with King Arthur. Or am I still missing the point? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182/20 "2019-01-04T22:45:34Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Yeah Native Americans weren’t segregated, in fact only African-Americans and Japanese-Americans were segregated, even Chinese-Anericans fought in “White” units. So did Hispanics. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-example-of-ahistorical-diversity-in-entertainment/827182.md?page=2)