![]() They would make a major impact on my life. My mentors were John Amos and Esther Rolle. John Henrik Clarke at Hunter College, I became his protégé and he allowed me access to his books. However, my personal life and my artistic life ran congruently. It is Mike Evans who created the militant character that I portrayed Good Times. So, there were some things that were written for me through writers Eric Monte (Cooley High, What’s Happening, The Jeffersons) and Mike Evans (The Jeffersons, All in the Family) That I could say and get away with it. But a grown Black man saying the same thing, I might get lynched in Mississippi. However, even in the context of Michael, I have to quantify that I could say, as a boy, about white racists and get away with it as a child. RC: Keep in mind I grew up in the wonderful company of revolutionaries. Did You personally have that political drive? OTP: In the 1970s, Michael was the only Black activist child on television. I’m exactly two months to the day older than Laurence. Laurence and I graduated from Lincoln Square Academy located on 66th Street. Laurence has always been a man of wonderful humility. So, we’ve had this consistent brotherhood throughout the decades. It was clear to us that if our mothers could get along, we could get along too. His mother Miss Hattie Fishburne and my mother Miz Lucille Carter got along. Laurence and I had mothers that kept us grounded. He, along with me and Haywood Nelson, (What’s Happening) made a pack to stay friends. RC: Laurence and I have known each other since we were nine years old. OTP: Both you and Laurence Fishburne were child actors in the 1970s. It’s not every day that a kid gets a hug and a kiss from Nina Simone. I’ve been very fortunate to not only meet spectacular men in my life but also fundamentally phenomenal women. I got the chance to meet the best of the best at that time. RC: I got caught in that beautiful vortex of the 1960s and 1970s. OTP: You started your career on Broadway at age nine in The Me Nobody Knows. Our Time Press recently spoke with him about his career in entertainment and his insights into being an inspiration for the woke generation. He has taught at the Child Development Center at CCNY and written over 20 children’s books. ![]() A lifelong Brooklynite and community activist, today, Carter has leadership roles in the Cultural Museum of African Art and the award-winning Broadway star serves as a vice president of the Audelco Awards. Ralph Carter’s young activist Michael Evans, remains one of TV’s most famous characters. ![]() to Black businessman Bill Perkins, who called it his family’s Mona Lisa. This year, artist Ernie Barnes’ famous 1976 painting The Sugar Shack, the official Good Times painting, sold for $15.3 million. The inspirational show about a Black family in a Chicago housing project broadcasts almost every day on some channel. Almost 50 years later, Good Times (1974-1979) remains a cultural touchstone. ![]()
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