Freeman F. Gosden

American comedian

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July 16, 2026

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Freeman F. Gosden was an American comedian, best known as the co-creator and performer on the radio program Amos ’n’ Andy. Alongside Charles J. Correll, Gosden, who was white, portrayed the characters Amos and Andy. The show, which began in 1928, drew heavily on the conventions of minstrel shows and utilized stereotypical dialects and characterizations.

Despite its immense popularity in the 1930s and beyond, the program faced significant criticism from organizations like the NAACP for its negative portrayal of African Americans. This criticism eventually led to the cancellation of the television adaptation in 1953 and the radio show's end in 1954. Gosden and Correll also appeared in the 1930 film Check and Double Check, performing in blackface as their characters.

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Gosden and Correll
In 1929 Gosden and Correll, both white, broadened their appeal by devising a larger cast of characters for a new nightly radio program, Amos ’n’ Andy, thus creating one of the first situation comedies. As Amos the cab driver and his sidekick, Andy, they became the mainstays…
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In 1929 Gosden and Correll, both white, broadened their appeal by devising a larger cast of characters for a new nightly radio program, Amos ’n’ Andy, thus creating one of the first situation comedies. As Amos the cab driver and his sidekick, Andy, they became the mainstays…
Read More

Amos ‘n’ Andy Show
Created by entertainers Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll—who also were the sole writers for the show during the first decade of its life—the Amos ‘n’ Andy radio show debuted in 1928 on Chicago radio station WMAQ. Gosden played Amos, an earnest and hardworking young black man, and Correll…
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Created by entertainers Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll—who also were the sole writers for the show during the first decade of its life—the Amos ‘n’ Andy radio show debuted in 1928 on Chicago radio station WMAQ. Gosden played Amos, an earnest and hardworking young black man, and Correll…
Read More

radio
The development of networks and production centres
…which two white men (Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll) acted the parts of two black operators of a taxicab company in Chicago. The program began as Sam ’n’ Henry on Chicago’s WGN station in 1926 and quickly became a national phenomenon when it made its network debut under its…
Read More
…which two white men (Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll) acted the parts of two black operators of a taxicab company in Chicago. The program began as Sam ’n’ Henry on Chicago’s WGN station in 1926 and quickly became a national phenomenon when it made its network debut under its…
Read More