The U.S. Of Archie

The U.S. of Archie was a Saturday morning cartoon show that aired on CBS from September 7, 1974 to September, 1976. A spinoff of the popular Archie comic books and television show, it featured Archie, Jughead, and the other Riverdale High student regulars re-enacting famous scenes throughout American history, taking full advantage of the Bicentennial in the months leading up to it. Chuck Clayton, the Black male character in the Archies gang, also appeared in this series. Chuck was the first Black male character to appear in Archie comics and the first Black male character to appear as a member of the Archie’s gang in a Saturday morning cartoon series

The core premise of this series was the gang discovered that their ancestors (who happened to be amazing lookalikes to the present day gang) played “intregal roles” in shaping different pieces of American history. These re-enactments were termed by Archie during the show to be historical accounts featuring the ‘ancestors’ of the current Archie gang, even though this meant they had identical ancestors who were always close friends in nearly every era of American history. The series was produced by Filmation founders and producers Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott. The musical segments, which were songs about the covered topic, appeared after the episode ended.

The first episode of the series was about The Underground Railroad and featured Harriet Tubman. The eleventh episode of the first season, which aired on November 16, 1974, was titled The Giver and was about George Washington Carver and his many gifts to the world. This episode also featured Booker T. Washington. The song The Giver is captured in the following video. The fourteenth episode of the series, which aired on December 7, 1974  was titled The Great Divide was about Lewis and Clark and included Clark’s Black slave York.

The original production cel featuring George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington from the U.S. Of Archie episode The Giver was gifted to The Museum Of UnCut Funk Collection by Toonseum in Pittsburgh, Pa.

U.S. of Archie © 2017 Comcast-NBCUniversal