The series Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals) has been called the most popular juvenile series ever filmed, beloved by generations of children and adults. According to Hollywoodlegend, creator Hal Roach saw a group of children playing in a lumberyard and, charmed by their antics, conceived of a series based on kids “being kids.” From the beginning, however, Our Gang was an anomaly. At a time of Jim Crow and a resurgent Ku Klux Klan, Our Gang featured black children playing alongside white children, attending school with them, and getting into mischief with them. This bookis the untold ... More

The series Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals) has been called the most popular juvenile series ever filmed, beloved by generations of children and adults. According to Hollywoodlegend, creator Hal Roach saw a group of children playing in a lumberyard and, charmed by their antics, conceived of a series based on kids “being kids.” From the beginning, however, Our Gang was an anomaly. At a time of Jim Crow and a resurgent Ku Klux Klan, Our Gang featured black children playing alongside white children, attending school with them, and getting into mischief with them. This bookis the untold story of race and Our Gang. It is the story of unconventional men like Hal Roach and his gag writers, who tapped into powerful American myths about race and childhood to present an unusual fantasy of interracial friendship. It is the story of the four black stars of the series--Ernie “Sunshine Sammy” Morrison, Allen“Farina” Hoskins, Matthew“Stymie” Beard, and Billie “Buckwheat” Thomas—the gang within the Gang, whose personal histories have become lost with the passage of time and the shifting political landscape. And it is the story of America itself, the messy, multiracial nation that found in Our Gang its comic avatar, a slapstick version of democracy, itself.