We’re Watching: Notable Black Leading Ladies on TV Dramas Past, Present and Future

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Teresa Graves – “Get Christie Love!”

Graves played the famous blaxploitation character Christie Love in a TV film that later became a TV series. She became the first black actress to lead a TV drama (after Diahann Carroll became the first black actress to lead a non-stereotypical sitcom in “Julia.”) Love, an undercover detective was inspired by other famous characters, Coffy, Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones. Unfortunately, the show only lasted for one season due to budget issues and Graves conversion to Jehovah Witness. Before Washington, she was the last black woman to lead a series on an American network (ABC).

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