"Sesame Street" Turns 40

The most popular educational kids show in the history of television turned 40 earlier this week. For four decades, "Sesame Street" has fought a rearguard action in the war against illiteracy and innumeracy. American kids' test scores have dropped in the last 40 years despite the best efforts of Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. However, "Sesame Street" also taught something that maybe is more important than book learning. "Sesame Street" was the first truly integrated neighborhood most kids ever saw, and in the 140 countries where it's aired, that isn't a bad message.

"Sesame Street" first aired on November 10, 1969. America's racial tensions were by no means at an end. The ink was still wet on the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Interracial marriages remained unconstitutional in several states. White flight to the suburbs was in full swing, and unpopular court-ordered busing to achieve integration hadn't come to America's biggest cities. "Restricted" country clubs remained the norm, code for "White Protestants Only."

But on that goofy little block on public television, kids too young to understand racism and other bigotries saw white Bob paling around with black Gordon, soon to be joined by good old Hispanic Luis. No one was turned away from Mr. Hooper's candy store because of where their parents came from. They all appeared to live in the same building. If there is a post-racial America in the offing, "Sesame Street" planted a few of the seeds in the minds of the generation born in the 1960s.

When the program went international, this multi-racial harmony wound up being customized. Part of the licensing agreement states that non-US versions of "Sesame Street" must reflect the morals and traditions of local markets, which sometimes are undermined in a good way by the program. Prejudice in South Africa against those infected with HIV was subtly attacked by the open inclusion of an HIV-infected character. In Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants didn't get along on the Shankill Road, but they did on "Sesame Street", The same applies in the Middle East, a region sorely lacking in tolerance.

So, a little girl who watched "Sesame Street" in her home on the South Side of Chicago in 1969 was on the program earlier this week talking about the importance of a healthy diet with a red puppet named Elmo. Michelle Obama got to Pennsylvania Avenue in part by way of "Sesame Street" because of the tolerance and acceptance of differences taught there.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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