By Kelsey Brown / Photo courtesy of Sundance

February 29, 2024 – Link to article

When the interactive software program Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing was released in the late 80s, it was a revolutionary moment in technology and culture: a Black woman was on the cover of a software program. As a kid, Jazmin Renée Jones, like so many others, was captivated by Beacon’s hands, adorned with acrylics, typing on the screen.

Beacon’s nails are remembered to be three inches, though others argue six. All are faulty figments of recollection — because Beacon is not real.

Now, when reflecting on her relationship with the software icon that Jones connected with at age eight, she says it is similar to Santa Claus. 

“In my childhood, she was real. Somewhere between that and adulthood, I came to understand, she is not real,” Jones says about the figure who was developed by three white male software tycoons. “So really, the first conscious thought that I had about Mavis Beacon was: Why was she Black?”

Read the full article here.