George Jefferson was born in Harlem in 1929, an ambitious African-American entrepreneur who started and managed a successful chain of seven dry cleaning stores in New York City.

In the third episode of All in the Family "My Aching Back", Lionel Jefferson explained that his father was able to open his cleaning store with a $3,200 ($21,467.34 in 2021) settlement after being rear-ended by a bus.

Henry's absence was attributed to his family's move to Chicago, but was mentioned one time when he had a son named Raymond (played by Gary Coleman), who came to visit his aunt Louise and uncle George in one episode of The Jeffersons.

When the spin-off series The Jeffersons began in January 1975, George and his family had moved "to a deluxe apartment in the sky"[1] on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, owing to the success of his expanding chain of stores.

Like his neighbor Archie Bunker, George Jefferson was frequently opinionated, rude, bigoted, prone to scheming and not particularly intelligent in a scholastic sense, but still a loving, hard-working father and husband.

In the last episode of the series "Red Robins", George's dishonest "business advice" to his granddaughter Jessica Jefferson and her "Red Robins" girl scout troop about selling their uneatable candy results in the girls losing a chance at a scout Jamboree and Louise Jefferson scolding George soundly.

In addition, while George nearly always appears to be stingy and insensitive, several episodes expose a generous, sentimental side that he takes pains to keep hidden from his family and friends.

In the Season 9 episode "Change for a Dollar," it is revealed to the audience that George's weekly tradition of going to his first store after closing to count his money is actually an excuse to provide free dry-cleaning services to his first customer, a well-off woman who referred her friends to his store and has now fallen into poverty following the death of her husband.

Referring to an unfounded rumor discussed by a blogger that she had once used the word "whitey" in a speech, Michelle Obama told the Times: "You are amazed sometimes at how deep the lies can be .