Roosevelt Franklin

Not to be confused with Franklin Roosevelt or Rosalind Franklin.
Roosevelt Franklin
Sesame Street character
The cover of Roosevelt Franklin's 1971 LP The Year of Roosevelt Franklin
First appearance1970
Last appearance1975
Voiced byMatt Robinson, Chris Knowings
Performed byFrank Oz, Ryan Dillon
In-universe information
GenderMale

Roosevelt Franklin is an African-American Muppet who was featured on the children's television series Sesame Street during the early 1970s.

Fictional character biography

He is purple with shaggy black hair that stands on end. His name is a play on the name of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, with the first and last names reversed. Sesame Street cast member Matt Robinson, who also played Gordon on the series for the first three seasons (1969–1972), created the character and provided his voice.[1] Roosevelt is an intelligent boy who often speaks in rhyme or scat. Roosevelt began to appear less frequently in episodes created after the mid-1970s until he no longer was on the series. He then made a cameo nearly 5 decades later in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration.

Conception and racial element

Robert W. Morrow, author of "Sesame Street" and the Reform of Children's Television, wrote that "Franklin's sudden arrival may have been in response to early criticism of the show as too white."[2]

Roosevelt Franklin usually appears in scenes with his mother, voiced by Loretta Long, who plays Susan on the series,[3] and Roosevelt frequently recites poetry. Later scenes were set in a classroom at Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School, in which Roosevelt appears to fill in for an absent teacher while teaching lessons about up and down, high and low, loud and soft, here and there, good and bad luck, poison, Africa, rhyming words, trying and trying again, leaving other people's belongings alone, and street-crossing safety.

Jane O'Connor, the sole African-American woman in early Sesame Street planning discussions,[4] said that Roosevelt Franklin was giving white children a stereotypical view of African-Americans.[2] Teachers and staffers were also concerned that his rowdy behavior in class was setting a bad example for the pre-school audience.[5] Eventually, the character was phased out of the show.

Franklin is featured on a 1971 record album titled The Year of Roosevelt Franklin, Gordon's Friend from Sesame Street, reissued in 1974 as My Name Is Roosevelt Franklin.[6]

References

  1. ^ Davis, Michael (2009). Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. Penguin Books. pp. 247–249. ISBN 978-0143116639.
  2. ^ a b Morrow, Robert W. (2006). "Sesame Street" and the Reform of Children's Television. JHU Press. p. 154. ISBN 9780801882302.
  3. ^ Borgenicht, David (1998). Sesame Street Unpaved: Scripts, Stories, Secrets and Songs. Hyperion Books. p. 135. ISBN 978-0786864607.
  4. ^ Morrow, Robert W. (2006). "Sesame Street" and the Reform of Children's Television. JHU Press. p. 153. ISBN 9780801882302.
  5. ^ Gikow, Louise A. (2009). Sesame Street: A Celebration of 40 Years of Life on the Street. Black Dog & Leventhal. p. 161. ISBN 978-1579126384.
  6. ^ Sesame Street - My Name Is Roosevelt Franklin (Full Album), YouTube