A new series, Our Kind Of People, is coming to Fox this fall. The drama is based on the 1999 book, Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class, by New York Times best-selling author Lawrence Otis Graham and was created by Karen Gist. Gist’s previous credits include Girlfriends, Grey’s Anatomy and Mixed-ish. She is co-executive producing the series with Lee Daniels (The Wonder Years, Empire). The pair previously worked together on Star.
Morris Chestnut, Yaya DaCosta, Joe Morton, Alana Bright, Kyle Bary, Nadine Ellis, Rhyon Nicole Brown and Debbi Morgan are all a part of the show’s main cast. Lance Gross and Raven Goodwin have signed on for roles as well.
The show will invite viewers into a soapy interpretation of the prestigious community of Oak Bluffs where Black power has reigned supreme for over five decades. Located on Martha’s Vineyard, Oak Bluffs is a historic enclave where the Black elite spend their summers frolicking on Inkwell beach and taking in culture at places like Knowhere Art Gallery and the Featherstone Center.
The insular community where AKAs and Deltas stroll arm in arm with their sisters towards Sanctuary and C’est la Vie while their husbands await warm gourmet donuts from Backdoor in sweatshirts from Harvard and Howard has inspired art for generations. It was the muse behind the Oval in Dorothy West’s masterpiece The Wedding and was the setting for Sunny Hostin’s smash beach read Summer On The Bluffs.
Our Kind Of People will follow Da Costa as Angela Vaughn, a single mother determined to honor her birthright by succeeding in the beauty industry. Using her natural hair-care line to restore her family to greatness, Vaughn sets out to highlight the innate beauty of Black people and positively impact her culture. When she crashes into a family secret on her journey to success, it jeopardizes the glittering world around her and threatens their intimate community.
Get your first look at the cast of Our Kind of People in character below. The show premieres Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 9 pm EST on Fox.
