For a woman to host her own talk show on television in the 1950s was groundbreaking. For a woman to also produce said show was unheard of. And for a woman to stand her ground in the face of pressure from the Deep South to fire a Black tap dancer from the show was extraordinary.
That’s exactly what Betty White did in 1954 when racists threatened to boycott her namesake series if up-and-coming dancer Arthur Duncan continued to perform on it. “I’m sorry, but, you know, he stays. Live with it,” she said, giving Duncan even more airtime. The Betty White Show was quietly cancelled soon after, but it was years before Duncan learnt of the controversy.
During her seven decades in showbiz, White made a habit of standing on the right side of history. Her very presence chipped in to help smash the TV industry’s glass ceiling – no more so when she became the first woman to win an Emmy
