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Race in Reality:
Exploring the Use of Actual Skin Color on Sesame Street Puppets
Damion Frye
Teachers College, Columbia University
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Introduction:
Accurately representing race and racial characteristics of various groupings has eluded
are frequently made to ameliorate such under or misrepresentations, characters either fit popular
stereotypes or the subject is surreptitiously avoided. Sesame Street, taking the latter route by
creating characters whose skin colors rage from green to purple to bright pink, uses ambiguity in
the race of their puppets and the celebration of all cultures by humans or cartoons to help
children identify themselves as being part of a world community rather than any specific race.
The downfall to such ambiguity however, is that the identity development of traditionally
marginalized groups remains largely unsupported; inherently making the formation of a world
Critique of Program:
Yet even with the existence of this fundamental flaw in the program, Sesame Street
remains a viable and effective way of improving school readiness of its nearly 6.6 million
viewers per year (Turgilo ET all 2000). The intention of making the characters “raceless” allows
the program to bring forth issues of grouping and in turn, help to eliminate them. Turgilo ET all
(2000) in citing a study on how children viewed other races after watching a season of Sesame
Street states, “ Overall the children wanted to be friends with the children of other races. The
percentages ranged from 50% to 87% (for showing some desire to befriend another race)” (p.
71). Such a focus included specific attention to particular races in which the curriculum explored
“physical and cultural differences; modeling positive responses to differences (friendship, mutual
cultural appreciation, and inclusion)” (Lesser and Schneider, 2000, p. 33). Although no long
term effects, past the second grade, were determined, the children who watched Sesame Street
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were more able to work within diverse groups in pre-school through first grade contexts (Zill,
2000).
It, however, was not just watching Sesame Street that improved the ability of children to
interact and form relationships with children of other races. Rather it was the type of situations
and contexts created by the writers of the show, which created, introduced and played out
common experiences all children may have. The children then were able to relate some positive
experience with another race to the episode – validating their experience and helping to solidify
the children’s ability to accept another race as being viable for friendship. Trugilo ET all (2000)
writes:
For example, in direct response that was noted in the formative research, two segments
were created: “Visiting Ieshia” and “Play Date.” In “Visiting Ieshia,” a White girl visits
an African American girl in her home. “Play Date” shows a similar family visit, with an
African American boy in his home with his White friend…Almost all of the children
(97%) who viewed “Visiting Ieshia” and most of the children who viewed “Play Date”
(87%) recalled something that the children did together: ate slept, washed their hands,
listened to music played video games (p. 72).
Thus, creating situations in which a common experience unites races allows children to make
connections to their own lives and begin to formally see their interracial friendships as being
Both “Visiting Ieshia” and “Play Date” were cartoons/skits that depicted people with
actual skin colors. These shows were successful in their mission because children were able to
relate to the character’s situations and were also able to recognize the character’s race. Yet the
characters from this show do not show up as dolls in any store or are used to represent the cast of
the program. Rather it is the purple “Elmo” or the blue “Grover” or even the yellow and orange
“Burt and Ernie” that produce the highest sales for Fisher-Price, the makers of the Sesame Street
doll line. It is this void of characters that have actual skin colors that may inhibit the formation
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of a positive racial identity for some traditionally marginalized groups. Trugilo ET all (2000)
report that:
The majority of White (77%), Chinese- American (70%), light-skinned Puerto Rican
(70%), African – American (60%), and dark-skinned Puerto Rican (57%) were accurate
in identifying the color of their skin. The majority of African American (70%), White
(63%), Crow Indian (60%), felt good about the color of their skin. However, only 35 %
of the Puerto Rican children felt positive about the color of their skin (p. 71).
However, one has to question if the program were to include Puerto Rican characters (puppets)
that were dark, light and somewhere in between, would their relatively negative feelings towards
their skin color increase? Furthermore, crayons were used to find a match for the skin color of
the 4 year olds in the test, if they had a popular character to relate to, one that had a similar skin
color, would not the association at least provide the child with a means of creating the same type
connections the show used to hook them as viewers? Nearly all research in literacy practice
points to interest level and positive racial identity formation occurring once children read texts in
which they see characters similar to their own color. Would this same effect not occur if the
Writers and producers for Sesame Street might have assumed that by including characters
that view their own colors positively might in some way impart the same messages unto the
For example, because (as noted previously) many preschool children failed to recognize
Kermit’s pride in his skin color in the song “Its not easy being green,” this segment
would be unlikely to be highly effective, in reinforcing other, more explicit segments
about race and ethnicity, simply because many children would miss the connection (p.
237).
In returning to this idea of making connections, Sesame Street, to more effectively aid in the
racial identity formation and positive self-recognition for traditionally marginalized groups, must
make the connections between popular characters with human skin tones and feeling good about
in terms of otherness – relating racial existence of someone to a reference rather than that
person’s actual self-actualized identity. This “othering” even occurs as the children develop their
own racial identity; causing the negative associations located within their reference to imprint
upon their newfound sense of their race. Thus, in attempting to promote the most positive racial
identity for children, it is the reference that must be positive if children are to maintain a likewise
racial identity.
Even though the child’s immediate family offers the first schema for the foundation of
this reference, television becomes equally important in affecting how positively the child will
‘Sometimes everything we know about some kinds of people (and ourselves) comes from
television. Some rural White North Americans have never met a real farmer. Most
people of the world have never met someone from the United States… Even in a study
done many years ago, children reported that most of their information about people from
different nationalities came from their parents and television, with TV becoming
increasingly important as children grew older (Lambert and Klineberg, 1967) (p.42).
By having characters that maintain similar skin colors to African Americans, Asians, Latinos,
Whites and mixed races, Sesame Street would begin influencing children to create this reference
from dolls and characters that have a positive racial identity. Moreover, using the schema
created by Sesame Street characters, children could also then modify their “othering” of other
The creation of these characters would be supplemented with the creation of a new
curriculum that attempts to put these characters in recognizable and familiar situations to
children of all races. These situations would include going over another child’s house to play
video games, playing together on a playground in a new or unfamiliar place and engaging in
school like activities. Especially with the last situation, altering the skin color of the puppets
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would provide children who are not academically inclined a reference for their race and finding
success in school. This reference has been especially absent or misrepresented in popular media
for children of Native American and African decent. Harris (1999) writes:
Like others, African Americans are more likely to identify with an emulate characters
who exhibit personal warmth, high status and power. Often these models have been
White, yet African Americans will readily identify with media Blacks as role models,
especially with the more positive ones. This can boost children’s self-esteem, especially
with regular viewing and accompanied by appropriate parental communication (p. 54)
To immediately change the color of the puppets or to introduce 10 new characters (to
represent the most basic range in shade changes between human skin) however, would be far too
much for a four year old to handle at first. Such a change should occur with the addition of two
new characters every season for five seasons. At the end of each season, children whose skin
color resembles the new character should undergo the same tests as described in Trugilo et all
(2000) to determine the success rate of children recognizing their own skin color and how good
they felt about their skin color once they were able to identify it correctly. With the data results
the writers and producers could then adjust situations and contexts within the show to undertake
the addition of two new characters with different skin tones. Eventually the change will have
occurred for all ten puppets, allowing the pilot studies conducted after the previous five seasons
to be compared with the data conducted after the last season. Once all data is analyzed, the
writes and producers could then choose to include more characters with different skin tones or
Research Design:
Overview and Goals:
This study will attempt to discern if changing the color of the puppets generally used on
Sesame Street to have skin color that reflects actual human colors, will in any way boost children
correctly identifying and feeling good about their own skin color. Although, no specific
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attention will be paid to any one particular race, the overall determinate effects will be monitored
more closely in traditionally marginalized groups. It is these groups that, in past studies
conducted by Loveland, Freund and Graves (1991), shown to be the most negatively affected by
If the data collected in this study finds that the children are more positively affected by
seeing puppets with a their skin color, then recommendations could be made to Sesame Street
and other children’s programming which uses puppets to include these flesh colored puppets.
effectively integrate these puppets and possible scenarios these puppets may face, concerning
Theoretical Frame:
This study is completed founded within the mass communication theories of cultivation
and socialization. While the theories may be interrelated, they integrate themselves in
specifically disparate manners. The first theory of cultivation helps to produce the rationale
behind changing the skin color of Sesame Street characters to represent actual skin tones.
However, the second theory of socialization provides the rationale of why the changing of the
skin tones to reflect actual human skin would be an effective means to help improve children’s’
By placing the characters with skin tones more like that of humans on Sesame Street, the
dissemination of a reference for children to view their own skin color more positively, would be
Hence, the varying socially constructed ideas and racially preferenced notions surrounding
particular skin tones would be mostly replaced by the ideas and conceptions of skin tone brought
forth by the puppets. All children who are darker in shade and view the puppet show will be able
to form the same type of schema as to why their character sees their skin tone in a positive way.
Moreover, children who can relate falsified imagery – such as puppets – to their own selves
would take the message of the show and understand that message as possibly being factual.
Yet the goal of this study is to affect change in the major children’s programs that employ
the use of puppets. Although most children perceive a puppet show to be falsified imagery, they
do not perceive a television show, even one such as Sesame Street, to be made up. In fact, using
the socialization theory, it is this perception of television being reality that will only provide a
much stronger impetus for the children who see the puppets with a similar skin tone, in similar
situations – to truly undertake the goal of raising their own self awareness and feelings about
their skin tone. Harris (1999) states, “The media, particularly television, are extremely important
socializing agents for national and cultural socialization. Children’s perceived reality about the
culture they live in is, in part, a media creation” (p.23). It is this media creation that furthermore,
has the power, through shows like Sesame Street, to improve children’s perceptions of their own
skin color through the use of puppets with human skin tones.
Participants:
The study will be conducted on 500 four year olds enrolled in both private day care and
public Head Start Programs. Respondents will be selected from at least 25 states, and controlled
for race, socioeconomic status, skin color and will be selected from day care centers or head Start
programs with at least five different shades of skin color represented at the site. A control group
of 20 students will be selected from a private day care in Montclair, N.J. and a Head Start center
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in East Orange, N.J. The students from the private day care in Montclair, N.J. have a variety of
ethnic backgrounds and class status. Ten four year olds from this day care will be selected with
control for race, socioeconomic status and skin color. The East Orange, N.J. site is less diverse,
catering primarily to children African American, Latino and Caribbean descent. However, the
range in skin colors of the three groups will help to control for variances in skin color throughout
the country.
Procedure:
Using the national database of Head Start programs, I will first contact the directors of
these programs by telephone and email to inform them of my intentions and ask them to
participate in the study. I will also use the Head Start directors to give me a reference for private
day care centers in the area. Once I have contacted and have willing participants of 50 day care
centers and Head Start programs, I will send a letter of confirmation, packet of information about
the study and participant forms for parents to sign and return to the centers.
Having all letters of conformation and parent permission, I will then begin to make trips
to the sites during the summer months when I am off from teaching. At the sites I will take
present a puppet show that includes puppets that have skin color (with features that resemble
some of the current cast of Sesame Street) similar to at least five of the children at the site and a
situation familiar to the students (i.e. sharing, going over a friends house, playing together). A
second puppet show will be presented using puppets that have skin colors such as purple, orange,
red and blue with a similar situation. Children will then be asked to draw a picture of themselves
playing with one their friends in a similar situation as earlier presented. Five children will then
be selected to participate in brief individual interviews. These interviews will ask the children
the following questions: “Which puppet did you like best?” “Which puppet reminded you of
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yourself?” “Which puppet had the same skin color as you?” (with the puppets displayed)
“Could you draw the puppet that has a skin color closest to yours?” “Did you like this puppet?”
“Was this puppet a good person?” “Was this puppet smart?” All responses will be transcribed
and recorded, and the answers will be detailed with descriptions of the how students responded.
Data Analysis:
Data will be analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methodology. First,
percentage groupings of student responses will be created and analyzed for trends. Once trends
in responses were established, connections between these trends and race, socioeconomic status,
skin color and region will be made to meta-analyze the data over all of the respondents.
After the qualitative analysis is complete, each of the student’s responses and their
reactions during the interview process will be analyzed to surface any trends in the way the
children responded with their actual responses. These trends could then again be matched with
the children’s race, socioeconomic status, skin color and region to offer a second possible meta
analysis.
Other Media:
The use of other media will be integral to the success of changing the puppets’ skin color
to reflect human skin tones. Creating a whole new set of popular characters with specific skin
tones, would be the first step in attenuating for the lack of positive racial identity some groups
experience. Hence, with the new line of puppets would come a new line of toys and a special
interactive area of the Sesame Street web site that specifically includes these new characters and
situations/ stories in which the characters are able to build a positive racial identity?
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By creating scenarios relating to the children’s lives, they could use the new line of dolls
to create pretend situations in which children could mimic positive experiences with the more
The children sometimes showed they had an idea what others might think. Gabriel went
into the Wendy House where Caroline was cuddling a baby doll. At 4 Gabriel knew
babies might not like some things so he mimed a kiss. ‘I only pretend to kiss your baby
because he doesn’t like kissing,’ he announced. Caroline told him the baby wanted a
kiss. Gabriel shook his head and wandered off (p. 100).
If 4 year olds can pretend to understand or interpret what a baby wants, then they could certainly
create situations in which they understand or interpret how dolls with similar skin color to theirs
positively view themselves. Furthermore, due to the relative success of the Sesame Street line of
dolls and toys, these toys, by simply bearing the Sesame Street name will be bought by parents
who are conscious of the doll’s purpose and those who unconscientiously will purchase the doll
simply because their child wants a new toy. Thus, such a toy will find some success in the toy
market and hopefully allow children to begin creating pretend situations in which they place their
For children under five years of age, the World Wide Web can be used as a very effective
tool to inculcate certain beliefs or values. Its ease of access and relative flexibility to change
allows children to repeatedly visit a particular web site, experience various things, but still have
the same meaning being imparted. Hence, by creating a special section for the new characters on
Sesame Street’s web site, the opportunity for children to once again see the faces and
experiences particular situations of the characters whose skin color most reflects their own.
One of the strengths of online – and one that separates it from most of the other media
discussed in this book – is the fact that the research can continue to have an impact far
beyond the development period…Thanks to this additional level of flexibility, the
material can continue to evolve, to become as educationally effective, appealing, and
unusual as possible (p. 225-226).
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As the diversity and skin color of the children who watch Sesame Street increase, as so the web
site could easily add new characters and situations. Furthermore, if the site is visited in
conjunction with a parent and a region could be selected for where the child lives, the situations
and contexts could be more tailored towards that particular child’s area of local knowledge,
making the characters even more successful in positively altering the way in which the children
Works Cited
Fisch, S.M. & Truglio, R.T. (Eds.) (2001) "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on
Children and Sesame Street. Erlbaum.
Harris, R. J. (1999) A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication. Erlbaum.