There Aren't Many Clips Around From Jesse Jackson's Appearance on 'Sesame Street'

In 1971, just a few years after Sesame Street premiered, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made an appearance on the children's program. Even then, it wasn't unheard of for celebrities or important figures to pop into the neighborhood and share songs and nursery rhymes with beloved characters who are still part of the series today.

However, despite Jackson sharing multiple original poems during his one appearance on Sesame Street, there is only one known clip from his episode that is still available for people to watch. At the time of Jackson's appearance on the show, he was in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, and before that, he had been a protege of Martin Luther King Jr.

Jackson appeared as a guest star on Sesame Street just once. Although the show was still in its early days, it had become known for having big names join the Muppets in learning about numbers, letters, and the world around them. Just a few years before Jackson appeared, legendary actor James Earl Jones was a guest star on the PBS series.

For Jackson, his Sesame Street appearance was about sharing his original poems. One of the poems, I Am Somebody, of which there is still footage floating around the internet, details Jackson sharing how people of different races are equal because they are all God's children. One clip from Jackson's Sesame Street appearance shows a much younger reverend that the world came to know following his one-time guest star role.

In the clip, Jackson recites, with a group of children repeating every line, "I am somebody. I may be poor, but I am somebody. I may be young, but I am somebody. I may be on welfare, but I am somebody. I may be small, but I am somebody. I may make a mistake, but I am somebody. My clothes are different, my face is different, my hair is different, but I am somebody. I am black, brown, white, I speak a different language, but I must be respected, I must be protected, never rejected. I am God's child. I am somebody."

During Jackson's decades-long career and life as an activist for civil and human rights, he was a shadow senator in Washington, D.C. He also tried to get into the White House twice. Jackson ran for president in 1984 and then again in 1988. In both instances, Jackson lost the Democratic primaries. Years later, when Barack Obama made his first bid for president, Jackson was open about his support and his vote for the man who would become the first Black president of the United States.

Per NBC News, Jackson said at the time that, despite losing two primaries in his own attempts at becoming president, he helped make it easier for other Black individuals, women, and other minorities to seek places of power in the government. He added, per the outlet, that he "broke down barriers."