What is the name of the first tv series written and produced by a Black female?

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Request for Question Clarification by answerfinder-ga on 16 Feb 2003 04:21 PST

Dear vernita-ga 
Everything points towards Mary Angelou but I am missing the final
confirmation with the words ‘first’.
From her own site: "Ten one-hour programs (NET-TV) "Black, Blues,
Black"; National Education Television, written produced and directed,
1968"
http://www.mayaangelou.com/
Confirmed on:
http://www.nwhp.org/tlp/biographies/angelou/angelou_bio.html
Perhaps another researcher may find the confirmation or an alternative
person.
answerfinder-ga

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Clarification of Question by vernita-ga on 16 Feb 2003 08:16 PST

What was the name of the TV series conceived, written and produced by
an African-American woman?

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 16 Feb 2003 08:55 PST

Hello vernita-ga,

Do you think it could be the TV series "Any Day Now"?

"The show is Any Day Now, the one-hour drama on Lifetime cable about a
life-long friendship between a black woman and a white woman in
Birmingham, Alabama. Topical contemporary stories are intercut with
black-and-white flashbacks to the women's childhood during the civil
rights movement in Birmingham of the 1960s."
There is a caption of a photo where it says that Valerie Woods is an
"Any Day Now" producer.
http://www.wga.org/WrittenBy/0900/diversity.html

At the Any Day Now - Crew Guide it says that Valerie Woods is the
supervising producer and a writer for the show as well.
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/CrewGuide/showid-285/

Valerie Woods - Personal details
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-18239 

Thanks
Bobbie7-ga

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Clarification of Question by vernita-ga on 16 Feb 2003 09:30 PST

Who is the first African-American woman to conceive, write and produce a TV series?

Hello.

According to Black Enterprise, Yvette Lee Bowser was the first
African-American woman to create, write and produce a primetime
television series. The show was "Living Single" (1993-97).

From Black Enterprise (December 1994):
"Warner Brothers approached Yvette Lee Bowser about creating a show.
The former producer of A Different World came up with My Girls (later
changed to Living Single)...  She had to redo the script before Fox
would accept the pilot...
Initially, the network hired Tom Anderson (Cheers) as executive
producer and Bowser as co-producer, even though she ran the show. But
thanks to a successful first six episodes, Bowser now has the title,
which makes her the first African-American woman to act as creator,
writer and executive producer of a prime-time series."
Source: 
Title: FIGHTING FOR AIR TIME
Date: 12/31/1994
Publication: Black Enterprise
Author: Carolyn M. Brown 
Hosted by elibrary.com
http://ask.elibrary.com/login.asp?c=&host=ask%2Eelibrary%2Ecom&script=%2Fgetdoc%2Easp&query=pubname%3DBlack%5FEnterprise%26puburl%3D0%26querydocid%3D28348732%40urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BLib%26dtype%3D0%7E0%26dinst%3D0%26author%3DCarolyn%2520M%2E%2520Brown%2520%2520%26title%3DFIGHTING%2520FOR%2520AIR%2520TIME%2520%2520%26date%3D12%2F31%2F1994%26refid%3Dency%5Fbotnm&title=FIGHTING+FOR+AIR+TIME++&pubname
Black%5FEnterprise&author=Carolyn+M%2E+Brown++&date=12%2F31%2F1994
(registration required to view article)

Additional Source: Profile of Yvette Lee Bowser
"Yvette Lee Bowser, the creator of the hit Fox-TV sitcom Living
Single, is part of a new vanguard of young, savvy African Americans on
the show-business fast track who are transforming the entertainment
industry. Before Bowser was thirty, she became the first African
American female to develop her own television series."
Source: Africanpubs.com
http://www.africanpubs.com/Apps/bios/0600BowserYvette.asp

search strategy: "first african american", "her own television
series", "yvette lee bowser"

I hope this helps.