This Is Why Mississippi Once Banned Sesame Street
“You all can hate us on your own dime,” said Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last month, justifying her stance as to why the federal government should no longer fund NPR and PBS, outlets that Greene believes favor left-leaning opinions. A few days later, another Republican introduced a bill to end government support for public broadcasting.
Unfortunately, NPR and PBS have grown used to this kind of thing over the years. In 1969, Fred Rogers testified before Congress when it threatened to reduce funding for public broadcasting. In that case, anyway, his heartfelt plea saved more beautiful days in the neighborhood.
Even seemingly nonpolitical programming, like preschool treasure Sesame Street, has faced political vitriol over the years. Who could possibly have a problem with Bert, Ernie and Cookie Monster? Try Mississippi’s State Commission for Educational Television, which decided its public television stations could no longer air the show in 1970, according to The New York Times.
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Sesame Street, which had already been airing for a few months in the state, got the boot for exactly the reason that you suspect. “Some of the members of the commission were very much opposed to showing the series,” said one member of the all-white group, “because it uses a highly integrated cast of children.”
Of course, it wasn’t only the children who were integrated. Gordon, Susan, Maria and Luis likely made the commission itchy, and the Muppets themselves came in a variety of colors.
The spokesperson, who understandably did not want to be identified, said, “Mississippi was not yet ready for it.”
Other Mississippi lawmakers agreed with the decision, according to Mental Floss. State representative Tullius Brady expressed concern that the Ford Foundation, which funded educational programming, might try to use it for “evil purposes.”
Once the news hit, however, the commission got plenty of pushback for its blatantly race-based decision, both from inside and outside Mississippi. That deluge of negative criticism forced the board to reverse its ruling only a month later. In addition to the backlash, many Mississippi viewers received broadcast signals from Memphis, New Orleans and Alabama, meaning many families were already watching Sesame Street. Then some local Mississippi channels offered to run the show if public television wouldn’t. A ban seemed pointless.
The Sesame Street cast put on a free live show in Jackson, Mississippi, later that fall, ironically presented in cooperation with the State Commission for Educational Television, according to The Washington Post. “It was not quite an apology, but a display of an uneasy alliance between a progressive show and a conservative board, all in front of an integrated crowd of ecstatic children.”
