‘Black-ish’ Season 4 Premiere Will Tackle ‘Hamilton’, Juneteenth and Columbus Day

Black-ish is going to tackle two controversial holidays in Season 4. The hit ABC sitcom is no stranger to hot-button topics and the show creators are starting this upcoming season with the black family's take on American issues.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, series creator Kenya Barris revealed the new season will open with Dre (Anthony Anderson) being frustrated by the continuous celebration of Columbus Day.  Going to great lengths to show his family why they should not be celebrating Christopher Columbus, Dre instead wants everyone to focus on Juneteenth. Singer / songwriter Aloe Blacc will also appear in the episode as himself to help Dre drive the message home by writing a song to raise Juneteenth awareness.

Barris was inspired to write the episode by his son who helped him realize that Columbus never actually stepped foot on North American soil, nor was his name actually Christopher Columbus.  He began to ask himself, why Americans continue to celebrate false holidays instead of spreading the truth about history. “Juneteenth… to be fair, if that was the last day when slavery was officially abolished [in the U.S.], isn’t that really Independence Day?”, Barris pondered. “How can we have an independence before everyone is independent and everyone’s free?”

The premiere episode will have a musical element with an homage to Hamilton: An American Musical, a play about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton which has achieved both critical acclaim and box office success.

ABC's Black-ish is returning on a new day and time for its Season 4 premiere on Tuesday October 3, 2017 at 9pm/8pm central.