Why 'Sesame Street' creator Joan Ganz Cooney refused to let a man run the show: 'I was born to do this'

When people think of Sesame Street, they often think of Elmo, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie.

But almost 50 years after the first sunny day aired on PBS, it’s time that the woman who initially showed everyone how to get to Sesame Street gets her due: Joan Ganz Cooney.

On the road to creating the first television show to provide early education for all, Ganz Cooney, who turned 89 on Nov. 30, had to sweep a lot of clouds — and doubters — away.

“It came up at some point that Sesame Street wouldn’t be seen as important if a woman were the head of it,” says Ganz Cooney.

Her response was brought to you by the letter B for Bulls***.

“I was absolutely born to do this and I knew it,” says Ganz Cooney, who was asked to come up with a list of potential men to run the show for her. “I said, ‘No, you don’t understand. I won’t be No. 2.’”

Before revolutionizing children’s TV programming, Ganz Cooney was producing documentaries at an educational station, when she offered to conduct a study for Carnegie Corp. to see if television could be used as an educational tool.

“Children were singing beer commercials,” says Ganz Cooney. “It wasn’t a question of could it teach. The question was whether it could be of potential use to children.”

As the civil rights movement brought socioeconomic inequality and education reform to the forefront, Ganz Cooney believed that television would grant access to early childhood education to children from all walks of life.

With her report “The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education,” she secured $8 million in funding from the Carnegie Corp., the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education to form the production company that would create Sesame Street.

Jim Henson, a renowned producer from the entertainment world at the time, joined the production, and together they created the beloved muppets on the “street,” featuring a diverse cast against the backdrop of what resembled streets in New York City.

“It did not seem like just a little kiddie show; it was truly different. The muppets were hip and edgy, yet there was no loss of sweetness,” says Ganz Cooney.

On Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street aired with Ganz Cooney credited as the executive director.

Just as Ganz Cooney’s initial report predicted, Sesame Street entertained and taught children through television sets across the nation. Characters like Big Bird and Count Dracula brought early childhood education to the masses like never before. By 1979, 9 million American children watched the show daily and Ganz Cooney was anointed “Saint Joan” by the media.

By the time Ganz Cooney retired in 1990, she had created one of the most influential TV shows of all time. Today the series reaches 156 million children across more than 150 countries. Although she is no longer working with Sesame Workshop, her own work for children’s education continues.

This year, Ganz Cooney became the first female recipient of the International Broadcasting Convention’s International Honor for Excellence. She will also be joining the making of a documentary about her groundbreaking television show that will be called Street Gang.

“A legacy is when something’s over, and this isn’t over,” says Joan Ganz Cooney. “It just goes on.”