In 2020, Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit behind Sesame Street — launched its Coming Together initiative to provide resources for racial literacy among kids. As the program continues promoting positive identity-building for its viewers, Coming Together’s next phase features a “Word of the Day” video series that hopes to harness the power of language.
A range of celebrity guests, including Samuel L. Jackson, Gabrielle Union, and Ava DuVernay, will take turns hosting the series, working alongside the Muppet gang to explore words like “belonging,” “fairness,” and “proud.” Poet Amanda Gorman will serve as the program’s first host, introducing Sesame Street fans to the word “upstander.”
Sesame Street is long heralded for its groundbreaking content and lessons in inclusivity. These new “Word of the Day” videos join a host of other Coming Together content that celebrates uplifting themes of racial, ethnic, and cultural identities in a developmentally appropriate way. Other videos will feature original songs, interviews, and inspiring messages from the Sesame Street Muppets. Like the “Word of the Day” series, the other new videos will be available on Sesame Street’s YouTube channel and Cartoon Network and Cartoonito’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter channels.
Amanda Gorman’s “Word of the Day” video is available here, with more to come in the coming weeks. For more resources and information about Coming Together, visit Sesame Workshop’s website.
