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By Claire Dodds
Life & Trends Reporter
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A 1972 clip of Rev. Jesse Jackson leading children in his “I am somebody” chant on Sesame Street is circulating widely on Instagram following news of his death at age 84.
The video, originally filmed more than five decades ago, shows a 31-year-old Jackson standing before a group of children on a set modeled after an urban neighborhood stoop.
Wearing a striped shirt and a gold medallion bearing the profile of Martin Luther King Jr., he calls out: “I am!” The children respond in unison: “Somebody!”
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The chant continues with affirmations about poverty, age, appearance and race, ending with the declaration: “I am God’s child! I am somebody!”
The clip has drawn an emotional response from social media users, many of whom say the message feels as urgent today as it did in the early 1970s.
“This is such a brilliant video. I cry every time,” one Instagram user wrote, while another added, “So touching… how far have we moved from this…We MUST do better…”
A third reflected on the positivity of the video, noting, “The way those babies were smiling while saying those affirmations.”
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The segment has been reshared across platforms in the days since Jackson’s death, with viewers reflecting on its cultural impact and its message of dignity and self-worth for children of all backgrounds.
According to The Guardian, “The adorable, cherub-cheeked kids light up the camera with their enthusiasm as they repeat the same words back to him,” calling the clip “an incredible artifact of a time when the United States teetered on the precipice of a different world order in the wake of the civil rights era and the waning years of the Black Power movement.”
It added that the video is “a small part of Jackson’s legacy,” noting that the episode “demonstrated to Americans the possibility of what a beloved community could look like, integrated and brimming with youthful promise.”
Jackson’s chant was rooted in the language of the civil rights movement. As The Guardian reported, the idea of “somebodiness” was central to the rhetoric of movement leaders, including King, who wrote in his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” about the toll segregation took on a sense of “‘somebodiness.’”
'Something so bold'
In a reflection published by the Amsterdam News, Christina Greer, an associate professor at Fordham University, wrote, “Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I rewatch Rev. Jesse Jackson’s ‘I Am Somebody’ speech from his 1972 visit to Sesame Street.”
She added, “There’s something so bold and Black and beautiful seeing Rev. Jackson surrounded by young children having them recite that they are somebody worthy of protection and respect.”
Greer wrote that while Jackson’s political career and presidential campaigns will be analyzed in the coming days, “it is his ‘I Am Somebody’ speech, which he gave in multiple settings through the years, that I always return to.”
As the Instagram clip continues to gain traction, the simple refrain—“I am somebody”—is once again reaching new audiences, echoing across social media feeds decades after it first aired on public television.
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