''Soul!'' (also stylized in uppercaseC. Gerald Fraser

January 30, 1991, ''New York Times''. Accessed online 21 April 2008.) is a performance/ variety television program that showcased African American music, dance and literature in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Gayle Wald
Abstract for "Vibrations Strong and Mean: 'Soul!' TV and 1970s R&B"
Experience Music Project 2008. Accessed online 20 April 2008. It was produced by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

public television station WNDT (later rebranded as

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

during its run), and distributed by NET and its successor

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

Sponsor

The program was funded in part by the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the dea ...

, who characterized it in 1970 as "the only nationally televised weekly series oriented to the black community and produced by blacks."Ford Foundation Annual Report 1970
p. 55 of 102
Accessed online 20 April 2008.

Line-up

WNDT aired the first in a series of 39 one-hour programs entitled ''Soul!'' on Thursday, September 12, 1968. The program was video-taped inside WNDT's then-West 55th Street Studios in Manhattan. The original co-hosts were noted black Harvard psychologist Alvin Poussaint and educator Loretta Long (who, one year later, took on the role of Susan Robinson on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and ...

)''. Poussaint is a noted author, public- speaker, and television consultant and is well-known for his research on racism's effect in the black community. His work in psychology is influenced greatly by the civil rights movement in the South, which he joined in 1965. The premiere broadcast featured singer

Barbara Acklin Barbara Jean Acklin (February 28, 1943 – November 27, 1998) was an American soul singer and songwriter, who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" (1968). As a songwriter, she is best ...

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

and the Bluebelles (

Nona Hendryx Nona Bernis Hendryx (born October 9, 1944) is an American vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, and author. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady ...

and

Sarah Dash Sarah Dash (August 18, 1945 – September 20, 2021) was an American singer and actress. She first appeared on the music scene as a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles. Dash was later a member of Labelle, and worked as a singer, sess ...

), actress-singer Novella Nelson,

Billy Taylor Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the ...

, singing group the Vibrations, gospel musician

Pearl Williams Jones Pearl Williams-Jones () (June 28, 1931 – February 4, 1991) was an American gospel musician. A native of Washington, D.C., Williams was the daughter of Smallwood Edmond Williams, pastor of the Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. She atte ...

, and comedian Irwin C. Watson. Poussaint and Long subsequently hosted four following editions. Tribecca Film Festival

For the edition airing on October 24, Poussaint was replaced by series creator Ellis Haizlip, an openly gay African American man, closely associated with the Black Arts Movement. Haizlip and Long co-host ''Soul!'' until December 5, after which Haizlip became its sole host. Poet

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (born June 7, 1943) is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets,Jane M. Barstow, Yolanda Williams Page (eds)"Nikki Giovanni" ''E ...

was also a frequent guest host.WPA Film Library announces exclusive representation of groundbreaking PBS ''Soul!'' series
WPA Film Library Newsletter, September 2002, Volume 2. Accessed online 20 April 2008. ''Soul!'' ended on March 7, 1973. Among the musical guests who appeared were

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...

, Earth, Wind, and Fire,

the Dells The Dells were an American R&B vocal group. Formed in high school in 1953 by founding members Marvin Junior, Verne Allison, Johnny Funches, Chuck Barksdale, and Michael and Lucius McGill, under the name the El-Rays. They released their first r ...

, Ashford and Simpson,

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

, Tito Puente,

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gr ...

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

Gladys Knight & The Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s. Starting out as simpl ...

The Delfonics The Delfonics were an American R&B/soul vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Delfonics were most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include "La-La (Means I Love You)", "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This ...

, The Spinners,

Kool & The Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/ funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West ...

Mandrill The mandrill (''Mandrillus sphinx'') is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is sexually dimorphic, as males ...

, and

Black Ivory Black Ivory is an American R&B group from Harlem, which had a number of hits in the 1970s, including "Don't Turn Around", " You and I", " Time Is Love", and "Will We Ever Come Together". History Early days The group was originally known as th ...

, as well as African performers

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and fo ...

and

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she w ...

. Others guests included boxer

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...

leader

Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, black supremacist, anti-white and antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and former singer who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI ...

, minister (and later politician)

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson ( né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senato ...

, actor/singer

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an internat ...

, actor

Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive Go ...

, and Kathleen Cleaver (wife of activist

Eldridge Cleaver Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. In 1968, Cleaver wrote '' Soul on Ice'', a collection of essays that, at the time of i ...

).James Ledbetter, ''Made Possible By...: The Death of Public Broadcasting in the United States'' (1997), Verso, , p. 64. Poetry collective The Last Poets also performed.

Cultural impact

Its viewership in the African American community was enormous: a 1968 Harris poll estimated that more than 65% of African American households with access to the show watched it on a regular basis. In 1970 it was carried by 72 public television stations. Gayle Wald writes that "''Soul!'' offered viewers radical ways of imagining—of hearing, feeling, and seeing—black community. Musically speaking, ''Soul!'' refused the division of black arts into high and low culture: the music of the concert hall versus the music of the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

. ''Soul!'' made room for both…" Ivan Cury was the program's staff director until 1970, when Stan Lathan (later a veteran television director and father of actress

Sanaa Lathan Sanaa McCoy Lathan (born September 19, 1971) is an American actress. She is the daughter of actress Eleanor McCoy and film director Stan Lathan. Her career began after she appeared in the shows ''In the House'', '' Family Matters'', '' NYPD Bl ...

) assumed the position. Producers included writer Alonzo Brown and actress

Anna Marie Horsford Anna Maria Horsford is an American actress, known for her performances in television comedies. Horsford is best known for her roles as Thelma Frye on the NBC sitcom '' Amen'' (1986–91), and as Dee Baxter on the WB sitcom ''The Wayans Bros.'' ...

, (later known for her roles on television series ''

Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and ...

'' and '' The Wayans Bros.''). Occasional host Loretta Greene later appeared in the movies ''Black Girl'' and 1984's '' Solomon Northup's Odyssey'', the original version of ''

12 Years a Slave ''Twelve Years a Slave'' is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and written by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details himself being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., ...

.'' On April 22, 2018, '' Mr. SOUL! -'' a documentary film about Haizlip directed, produced and written by his niece Melissa Haizlip, premiered at New York City's

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was ...

. The award-winning film was released in limited theaters and virtual cinemas on August 28, 2020. As of December 2020, the film has won 19 awards, including 14 film festival awards. The documentary premiered on

on February 22, 2021.

Notes

External links

* * {{IMDb title Television series by WNET PBS original programming 1968 American television series debuts 1973 American television series endings 1960s American music television series 1970s American music television series 1960s American variety television series 1970s American variety television series African-American culture African-American news and public affairs television series