HBO’s American historical drama television series “The Gilded Age” is spotlighting a new demographic in its storytelling: Black elitism. Season three of the hit drama introduces fans to new characters, storylines, and a piece of history that is often overlooked in the conversation.
“We just got more and more interested in the history of the Black bourgeois community at the end of the 19th century,” the show’s creator, Julian Fellowes, told Entertainment Weekly. “People are not really taught it. They’re taught one vision of that society, and the Black bourgeois community has been left out of it, largely. The more we learned, the more we wanted to put it into the show.”
“The Gilded Age,” which already featured Black stars such as Denée Benton as Peggy Scott and Audra McDonald as Dorothy Scott, will now include Broadway star Jordan Donica as Dr. William Kirkland, Benton’s new love interest, and his parents, played by Phylicia Rashad and Brian Stokes Mitchell.
“I’ve always loved doing period pieces to learn about what people like us were doing in different times and spaces,” Donica shared. “To learn about the free Africans who were never slaves, it’s just not something we learn in school, if ever. To learn about that, to portray that, to dive into that history, and to live in that world has been a blessing.”
“I feel like people love our show because of the beautiful, camp drama. And I do think they come to learn something,” Benton said, per The Wrap. “Exploring the nuances of the Black communities in that time, Black wealth and the white supremacy that still found its way into those dynamics, is really interesting meat to get into.”
For her character, who comes from a Black middle-class community in Brooklyn, Brenton studied the history of Brooklyn with historian and consultant Dr. Erica Dunbar, which she says left her wanting to explore more.
“Dr. Dunbar and I have been dreaming about what it could be like for the Black world of the show to expand and take up as much space as the white world of the Gilded Age,” she explained to Entertainment Weekly. “This season feels like we’re getting to see all the flowers blossom of that pursuit. It culminated in us getting to speak to family members in Newport who are descendants of families like the Kirklands that have had Black family members in Newport for 11 generations and still have artifacts of their family from that time.”
According to Sonia Warfield, the co-showrunner, Mitchell’s character is “based on a prominent Black pastor who became a member of the state assembly or something.”
“We wanted to expand the world, and it is real, and it’s not something that we see normally on television and film,” she continued.
“It’s such living history,” Benton said, reflecting on working with Black Newport families. “And seeing the excitement, pride, and emotion on their faces — that their stories were being told — is a connective tissue with this show that feels like it’s infused with a lot of magic.”
Watch “The Gilded Age” every Sunday at 9 P.M. ET on HBO.
