‘Seeking Mavis Beacon’: The Wild Search for a Tech Icon Who Isn’t Real

PARK CITY, Utah—The reason that I am able to type this—and therefore you are able to read it—is because of a woman named Mavis Beacon.

Thanks to a software program first released in 1987 (and which went on to sell over 10 million copies), generations have learned how to properly type. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing was a classroom staple, especially for ’90s kids, who became proficient at what would become a crucial skill in the digital age. It was all thanks to the lessons constructed by the pioneering Black woman whose face graced the cover of the program’s boxes.

A trailblazer for Black women in her field, she would go on to be lauded for her contributions. Pupils who learned from her methods filmed testimonials to thank her. Her career was lauded at the Kennedy Center. “When people heard that deep old soul coming out of her computer, they wept,” Barack Obama said in his speech honoring her. Oprah Winfrey spoke eloquently about her contributions and spirit. When Wendy Williams went viral for saying, “She’s an icon, she’s a legend, and she is the moment,” she was talking about Mavis.

Read more at The Daily Beast.