A woman who overcame a home ruled by domestic violence to become a groundbreaking actress on the long-running PBS show "Sesame Street," provided the keynote address at today's 11th annual YWCA Empowering Women Luncheon.
Sonia Manzano ended up portraying "Maria" on the show for 44 years.
She says it was a groundbreaking role.
"I was born in the 50s, and I watched a lot of ‘Father Knows Best,’ and a lot of ‘Leave it to Beaver,’ and I wondered, how I was going to participate in a society that didn't see me because I wasn't reflected in the society," she said.
Manzano says she tries to use her life as an inspiration for young women.
The YWCA’s mission is eliminating racism and empowering women, and she says much more work needs to be done.
Manzano says she’s a product of the idealistic 1960s.
"But clearly the mood of the country shows us that we have not come as far as we had hoped, as far as eliminating racism. I thought as a young girl starting Sesame Street, 'Oh it's so wonderful, this is all going to be over, all these racist people are going to die! And we've seen the light, and we're going to move on and isn't it wonderful.' “It's remarkable to me that we are as separated as we are now from each other. You like to think that society has progressed from when you started. It is disconcerting and it saddens me and it’s a reason that the YWCA is even more important today," she said.
Video courtesy of Martin Kaufman: