Speaker 1: Right now, it's time for the Way Black History Fact.
Speaker 1: And Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Underground
Speaker 1: Beach Club. From the Streets to the Beach. For the
Speaker 1: latest in beachware, visit Underground Beach Club dot com. And
Speaker 1: Today's Way Black History Fact come from smithsonianmag dot com.
Speaker 1: And we are going to be discussing the unmistakable Black
Speaker 1: roots of Sesame Street. I did not know this. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is exciting. Okay. So. Making its debut in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty nine, the beloved children's television show was shaped by
Speaker 1: the African American communities in Harlem and beyond. Sesame Street
Speaker 1: arose from the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration's Great Society Agenda,
Speaker 1: a series of federal programs that carried the ambitious goal
Speaker 1: of eliminated poverty and racial injustice. As part of these aspirations, Johnson,
Speaker 1: who had taught poor Mexican American children while a student
Speaker 1: in college, created head Start in nineteen sixty five, seeking
Speaker 1: to disrupt the multi generational cycle of poverty through early
Speaker 1: education programs for disadvantaged preschool children. Joan Gaines Cooney, the
Speaker 1: creator of Sesame Street, said in a nineteen ninety eight
Speaker 1: interview that a documentary she produced on the Harlem pre
Speaker 1: school program that would become Headstart led her to quote
Speaker 1: become absolutely involved intellectually and spiritually with the civil rights
Speaker 1: movement and with the educational deficit deficit that poverty created.
Speaker 1: Soon thereafter, she teamed up with her friend Lloyd Morrissett,
Speaker 1: a psychologist and Carnegie Corporation executive, who was looking to
Speaker 1: back a preschool education model that could reach a great
Speaker 1: number of inter city children. Moriset secured it additional private
Speaker 1: sector and federal government support, and the Children's Television Workshop,
Speaker 1: the entity that would produce Sesame Street, along with other
Speaker 1: beloved educational programming, was born. While the cast of Sesame
Speaker 1: Street today is diverse in almost every respect, even by
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, Sesame Street took steps to hire more
Speaker 1: Hispanic performers and talent, and later would cast actors with
Speaker 1: physical disabilities. The on air talent for the pilot episode
Speaker 1: was overwhelmingly black, included principal host Gordon and Susan and
Speaker 1: included the principal host Gordon and Susan Sorry. Most of
Speaker 1: the African American cast and crew came up through the
Speaker 1: interconnected Black entertainment world of New York. In the late
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. Long had been the co host of Soul,
Speaker 1: an unapologetic black power showcase of politics and culture on
Speaker 1: New York Public Television, and heard about Sesame Street from Rosen,
Speaker 1: the set designer who was also on the crew for Soul.
Speaker 1: Rosenknu Long was a teacher and told her, according to
Speaker 1: the Street Gang, the show is going to be about
Speaker 1: teaching preschoolers, you need to know about it. In light
Speaker 1: of the show's racially conscious casting, one cannot be faulted
Speaker 1: for wondering whether any of Jim Henson's muppet creations, more
Speaker 1: specifically the humani Ish and Ernie, have racial identities. No
Speaker 1: fewer than three interracial pairs appear in the first six
Speaker 1: minutes of the pilot, just before two muppets appear, and
Speaker 1: as tempting as one might be to believe leave Sesame
Speaker 1: Street is presenting children with another interracial pair, Hintson once
Speaker 1: remarked the only kids who can identify along racial lines
Speaker 1: with the muppets have to either be green or orange. Yet,
Speaker 1: in its second year, Sesame Street did introduce a muppet
Speaker 1: named Roosevelt Franklin, who the producers openly acknowledged as black,
Speaker 1: created and voiced by Matt Robinson, the actor who played
Speaker 1: Gordon Roosevelt speaks Black English. That's some quotes which Loretta
Speaker 1: Long outlined in her dissertation as a way to make
Speaker 1: him much more believable to the And these are the
Speaker 1: words I want to say target audience. Wow. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: so now a lot of what I know about Sesame
Speaker 1: Street makes more sense. But also to have it be
Speaker 1: framed in that light certainly does feel a little bit
Speaker 1: special and intentional. Their interesting thing is filling this whole time,
Speaker 1: my whole life, like Sesame Street was for us, even
Speaker 1: before I knew that. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to
Speaker 1: say to me. So I love that