Letter from Jim Henson to Ezra Jack Keats, January 27, 1971

Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983) was the author and illustrator of The Snowy Day (1982), the first book featuring a Black child to win the Caldecott Award. Keats wrote and illustrated dozens of books in his life, but what may be most remarkable about him was his deep and abiding appreciation for children and their interests and needs. While many of Keats's celebrated contemporaries confessed to a general dislike of children, Keats's appreciation for their sensitivity, intelligence, and curiosity is evident in all of his many projects.

One of those projects was serving as a workshop consultant for the Children's Television Workshop, the organization that created Sesame Street. Backed by the Carnegie Corporation, the original proposal for the show envisioned a program for an audience of "inner-city disadvantaged children from 3 to 5 years of age" (Cooney 1). Keats himself had experienced poverty and anti-Semitism in his Brooklyn childhood, and he always felt the importance of creating books and content for the children who, like him, were often overlooked by mainstream media. Sesame Street clearly spoke to Keats on a personal level, and his picture books were featured on the show beginning in its first season.  

It comes as no surprise, then, that Keats made the effort to write the creators of Sesame Street when he became concerned about one its main stars: Kermit the Frog. Though we don't have the original letter that Keats (passionately, to be sure) sent to the CTW, we do have the response from Kermit's creator and puppeteer, Jim Henson. Without the original Keats missive, it is impossible to know what triggered his appeal to maintain Kermit's position on the children's show, but the reply thanks Keats and assures him that Kermit is not leaving Sesame Street any time soon. The letter explains that

"Kermit has performed for us on many other Muppet appearances – outside of Sesame Street – and will continue to do so. Thus, we are trying to use him in such a way that both we and the Children's Television Workshop will not be subject to criticism. It's not easy, but in any case, we truly appreciate your interest."

Even without the original letter of complaint, it is clear from Henson's hand-signed reply that he took a letter from Keats—a champion of underprivileged, underrepresented children—very seriously. Keats and Henson were surely acquainted through the show, and Henson's careful reply exemplifies both men's respect for creating high quality media for children.

This letter is housed among hundreds of other letters Keats received and saved, including letters from some of his many child fans. It is part of the Ezra Jack Keats Papers (DG0001), box 185, folder 165. To see a list of Keats's archived correspondence, see the Correspondence sub-series of the finding aid. The Keats Papers are one of the major collections of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, and de Grummond proudly co-administers the Ezra Jack Keats Award annually.

Source: Cooney, Joan Ganz. "The First Year of Sesame Street: A History and Overview. Final Report, Volume I of V Volumes." Children's Television Workshop. December 1970. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED047821.pdf.

Text by Karlie Herndon, Curator of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. To find out more about the Keats Papers or other collections at de Grummond, contact Karlie at or 601-266-4086.