Holiday Episodes that Show Black Men During Christmas
Black men are providers for their families, and that has especially been shown through holiday-themed episodes of classic television series. Whether the men were in a Santa suit or not they provided more than just physical gifts. Check out some of the holiday episodes honoring the role of Black men during Christmas.
For the first Christmas episode in Martin’s five-season run, Martin assumed the role of Santa Claus, while telling a group of children “the story of the first Christmas” when a flight delay prevented his friend Cole from doing so. The episode gave us the birth of Christ from the Black male perspective.
When a group of passengers stuck on a train allowed agitation to get the best of them on Christmas Eve, Steve Urkel stepped in to get everyone in the spirit.
The duo of Kenan Thompson & Kel Mitchell recently made it back in the spotlight on Saturday Night Live, but in the late 1990s, they were the orange soda-loving, and grocery store employees that everyone wanted to hang with. In the Merry Christmas Kenan episode, Kenan wore the Santa suit but was more about getting a gift for himself than others which was buying himself a mountain bike, but Kenan eventually comes around and gets gifts for his family and friends.
Shawn & Marlon got a taste of a country Christmas when their cousin Sheila invited them to spend the holiday on a farm.
The spirit of Christmas is supposed to celebrate treating loved ones with kindness and uncle Bernie Mac had to teach his nieces and nephew that on the Christmas Story episode of his show. The kids just wanted a dog, but Bernie wouldn’t give them one. A dog did in fact arrive, however, to teach the kids a lesson in selflessness.
Jamie was forced to relive Christmas Eve repeatedly in the Christmas Day Ja Vu episode. In reliving Christmas Eve, Jamie began to understand the true meaning of Christmas.
Will Smith wanted to give his younger cousin Ashley the traditional Christmas experience so he took over the duties of decorating the Banks’ mansion. Will’s efforts upset the neighbors but in the end, the twist was that Christmas isn’t about decorations but how people express the joy in their hearts.
Sometimes things go wrong on Christmas, as was the case when Mark’s job as Santa at the mall failed as well as his Christmas plans. But ultimately the episode showed that Christmas is more than just success at a job or one’s own plans.
There have been many takes on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and Fred Sanford stepped into Ebenezer’s shoes being visited by ghosts in order to help him change his ways.
While most Christmas-themed stories are about characters looking for material gifts, in The Jefferson's All I Want For Christmas the gift wasn’t material. In the episode, George Jefferson plays Santa and helps find parents for a young orphan.
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