7 of the most iconic TV aunts from your favorite Black shows
Classic and new Black sitcoms alike would be incomplete without the presence of an aunt to offer comedic relief and sound direction. These characters were women who viewers could recognize in their own families or feel comforted by if they didn’t. Audiences could always count on these matriarchal figures when they tuned into their favorite shows. When discussing our favorite TV comedy shows of all time, these ladies only made our go-to sitcoms even more entertaining.
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While the Black actresses who played these memorable roles are countless, we’ve narrowed our selection to these seven TV aunts who truly deserve their flowers. They’ll forever be our favorite TV aunties.
1. Aunt Vivian Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_6siem1Lhk
In “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Vivian Banks personifies class, grace and sophistication. When necessary, she doesn’t hesitate to remind her nephew, Will Smith, of her Philadelphian roots. During the sitcom’s six-season run from 1990 to 1996, both actresses Janet Hubert and Daphne Maxwell Reid gave their respective takes on portraying Judge Philip Banks’ wife.
Aunt Viv keeps her boisterous and outgoing nephew in check at home and at school when she steps in as a professor at Bel-Air Academy, where Will and her children are enrolled. She is easily one of the culture’s most iconic aunts and mother figures across decades of television.
2. Aunt Vivian Banks from Bel-Air
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEe-TafE6cA
The dramatic reimagining of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” charts a new story. Peacock’s “Bel-Air” sees Will finding his footing in the world of well-to-do peers as his past creeps into the streets of Los Angeles. While there are many new aspects to love about the show, Aunt Viv remains a key pillar from the original sitcom.
In the new retelling, the matriarch of the Banks family is a highly sought-after artist. She lets her ambitions light her way out of the shadows of her successful attorney husband and the trenches of motherhood. Yet, in her moments of personal doubt and challenges in being present for each of her three children, she is a formidable force of support and nurture for Will.
Portrayed by actress Cassandra Freeman, Aunt Viv shows her nephew that he doesn’t have to conceal his West Philly DNA to adapt to the world around him. She encourages him to strive for more than their hometown could ever offer him.
3. Aunt Helen King from The Jamie Foxx Show
https://youtu.be/rDYJ6RPkPJw?si=9hBtS8piIGuFFzJz
Aunt Helen King is all about her business and her man, Uncle Junior King, but has a soft spot for her nephew, Jamie King. The Kings Tower co-owner, played by esteemed theater actress Ellia English, quickly brought the aspiring musician on board at the hotel when he moves from Texas to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams of becoming a star. Like any good aunt, she supports his ambitions throughout the show.
She gives her nephew more opportunities than his contemporary Braxton P. Hartnabrig thinks he deserves. Jamie knew his aunt would do all that she could to help make his life comfortable and made sure to take full advantage of that fact.
When Jamie faces setbacks in love and his career, Helen is there to uplift him, encouraging him to keep pushing forward. When he finally gets his foot into the jingle industry, her unwavering presence is among the reinforcements that make his successes that much sweeter.
4. Aunt Wanda McCullough from The Bernie Mac Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_UCeCZtEmY
When Bernie "Mac" McCullough decides to take custody of his sister’s three children, Vanessa, Jordan and Bryana “Baby Girl” Thompkins — a plot inspired by the late comedian’s stand-up routine and real-life — his on-screen wife, Wanda McCullough, is the perfect balance to his stern approach to guardianship.
Played by Kellita Smith, Wanda is a boss in her corporate communications role, but at home, she is the pushover her nieces and nephew need to pull off the hijinks that all too often lead their uncle’s frustrations to come to a head.
She is compassionate and sympathetic to their upbringing of having a drug-addict mother and starting over under their Uncle Bernie’s care. While Bernie tries to keep the kids from falling into adolescent pitfalls, Aunt Wanda tenderheartedly intervenes when the rod of consequences is too much and a shoulder to lean on is better suited.
5. Aunt Rachel Crawford from Family Matters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl1QBN8SUFM
Laura and Eddie Winslow have the best of both worlds in their Aunt Rachel Crawford (Telma Hopkins). The widowed mother is a go-to influential figure in the household, offering her niece and nephew witty approaches to their teenage angst. She is more lighthearted compared to their mother, her older sister Harriette Winslow.
And though her head may be a little too in the clouds at times, Aunt Rachel is a constant reminder that there is no such thing as a defeat that neither she nor her loved ones are unable to rebound from. She even defies odds when she rebuilds the local hangout spot, renaming it Rachel’s Place and hiring her niece and nephew.
6. Aunt Violet Bordelon from Queen Sugar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ9Ijan6wnI
Whether a storm brews in the fictional St. Josephine Parish of Louisiana or among the Bordelon family members, Aunt Violet Bordelon makes certain that come Hell or high water, nothing will destroy their bond. Veteran entertainer Tina Lifford made a star out of the bayou woman — better known as Aunt Vi by her nieces Charley and Nova, nephew Ralph Angel and the townspeople.
She is an endless well of wisdom on how to endure the trials and tribulations of life, but also a soft place for the Bordelon siblings to land when curveballs throw them off their game and threaten to upend their bloodline’s legacy as Black farmers and landowners.
Aunt Vi isn’t a woman of many financial resources, but what she lacks in money, she offers an abundance of love and refuge. She is proof that living through the South’s days of antiquated segregation galvanized her strength. Though a true relative to few, she is the aunt that everyone needs in times of sorrow and joy.
7. Aunt Esther Anderson from Sanford and Son
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ppXVtCoA_E
Aunt Esther Anderson keeps a Bible in her purse and side-eye on the ready whenever she steps foot into her brother-in-law Fred Sanford’s home. Actress and comedian LaWanda Page portrayed the scripture-spouting Baptist.
Though she is a sworn enemy of Fred (Red Foxx) in “Sanford and Son,” Esther is a devoted aunt to her late sister’s son, Lamont Sanford. She often offers the young man guidance and words of righteousness that counter his father’s heathen outlook on life.
Throughout the sitcom’s six seasons, which ran from 1972 to 1978, she and Fred have countless showdowns, many of which result in her warning the junkyard enthusiast to “Watch it, sucka!,” hilariously threatening to strike him with her purse. Luckily for Lamont, the bad blood never sways her devotion to show up for him.
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