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posted by Jason Kottke  ·  gift link

Jesse Jackson on Sesame Street in 1971 doing a call-and-response with the kids of the poem I Am - Somebody.

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John B

I love love love that the kids mess it up here and there and they keep it in, and that Rev. Jackson rolls with it.

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Enrique

A man with a good sense of humor. This clip of his son sheds light on the time he made a surprise appearance on SNL to eulogize Dr. Seuss.

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Colin L.

It's difficult to describe what a balm Jackson was to a scared kid growing up in USA during the Reagan years. His voice cut through the charade, saying: things don't have to be this way.

This morning in Europe, I read Jackson had died and I immediately thought of this wonderful Sesame Street video and tried to remember where I had seen it. I decided it must have been KDO. This evening I returned to my computer to search for it and found it here...but posted for apparently the first time. This says a lot about the magic of my relationship with kottke.org. I love this site.

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Zach Rose

The Internet Archive has lots and lots of Sesame Street from the 80s and 90s.

I burn DVDs and watch them with my kid. They are so different than children's TV these days. They're slower, quieter, and calmer. They feel more imbued with jazz, country, and funk. But mostly they show adults hanging out and just talking. Beautiful stuff. RIP Jesse Jackson.

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Jason KottkeMOD Edited

When Jesse Jackson Came to 'Sesame Street': 'I Am! Somebody!' (gift link)

It's hard to imagine the "Sesame Street" of today — whose new episodes now land on Netflix — airing a statement like this (either the references to God or to welfare). But at its inception, "Sesame Street" very much was a statement. It was dedicated, like public TV generally, to reaching every part of the public. It was noticeably inclusive, to the point of encountering racist complaints and bans over its diverse casting.

Jackson's appearance underlines that message. Here, he does not speak with the fire of a protest leader or a politician. He's like a hip teacher or youth group leader. He engages and encourages the kids in the tones of a classroom. He is, perhaps, asking us to imagine that this is what classrooms could be like.

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TamaraL

Ah I came up during this time in Sesame Street . ❤️

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