Manzano’s gift to us, the power of her presence, lies in the fullness of Maria’s humanity. “And that was like whoa! This show is really in your face and outrageous.” She went on to become an integral part of the multicultural neighborhood, as well as one of the lead writers, garnering 15 Emmys over the next four decades. “I had never seen people of color on television,” Manzano told CBS last year. The world was changing and Sesame Street, then only a few years old, was speaking to that change on TV screens across America. Manzano, then a 21-year-old Carnegie Mellon student, walked into the Sesame Street audition in the early 70s, amidst the turmoil and excitement of civil rights and Vietnam war protests. It’s that change that makes this moment feel less like an ending and more like a graceful transition into the next chapter. It would be easy to call Sonia Manzano’s upcoming retirement from Sesame Street the end of an era – and in a way it is: Manzano’s semi-autobiographical character Maria has graced public television’s screens for 44 years, brightening the lives of millions of children over several generations and changing television forever.
