That’s because Sesame Street was waaay ahead of the representation curve for children’s television, and - let’s be honest - for American television in general.
Okay, to be fair she actually retired at a perfectly reasonable point in her career, but that doesn’t make it any easier for those of us who found one our earliest positive images of Latinidad in Boricua Sonia Manzano’s fictional small business owner, caring mother, and second-floor resident of 123 Sesame Street. Yes, after 44 years, María just up and left us. If you are part of the 95% of American children who watched Sesame Street before age three - or perhaps a product of one of the 140 countries where the groundbreaking educational show is syndicated - you probably got a little bummed out last week.
