Public Speech: Soul Train

August 17, 1970 Soul Train’s pilot episode was premiered on WCIU-TV , a local Chicago TV station , Don Cornelius the creator/host, embarked on a new version of American bandstand featuring the sounds and dance moves of black Americans. The first season aired on Saturday October 2,1971 on over 24 local stations out side Chicago and 7 major cities. The first season consisted of 30 episodes and many musical acts such as Gladys Knight & the Pips, Al Green and Curtis Mayfield. The shows popularity grew due to the young talented dancers from the poor Chicago area who were featured on the show.  The show was growing so fast it packed up and moved from Chicago to L.A, the leading town for motion picture and/ television. When in L.A the second season aired on national television to over 50 major cities across the U.S. Don Cornelius took a gamble when moving to L.A well he hit the jackpot

Soul train became the longest running show with 37 seasons and over 1,100 episodes. According to Berry Gordy – Founder of Motown said 
“Don was a pioneer, the first to present Soul music to the masses via television.  His Soul Train show was an important and timely vehicle that showcased Black talent and their new releases to the public. From his unique Soul Train dances to his brilliant commentary, there are not enough adjectives to describe how important his role was to our society, even though it was targeted to blacks, it was for everybody.

Besides the grate success of the soul train era, now I want to talk about the impact this show had by being the first show made for African Americans. Before soul train there was not lot of black faces in the media if there was any it was most likely talking down on. Soul Train gave the black community a show to promote black folks dancing, singing and having fun with style, such as Afros, Dashiki, Bell Bottoms, brads and Medallions. When you tune in every Saturday evening you will watch 60 non-stop minutes of soul. With in the 60 min you will hear the sounds of the latest black artiest performing there latest hits live. In the 70’s black music was on the rise. Due to the culture battle across America it was hard for artiest to get exposure. It all changed when soul train aired giving black arties a chance to be on national television with out the culture boundaries of the 70’s stopping them. According to Berry Gordy, Soul Train was made the unofficial, official stamp of the industry.  He said “You had to go on Soul Train if you wanted to make it in the business.” The music was the driving force of the show and with new talent performing each week made soul train on the right track to success.

I can talk forever about the show and all of the musical acts that perform but I am here today to explain what major importance this show had for African American. (First I want to talk about the dancers)

Soul train had more then just hip people that can dance. The talent did not come from dance schools/studios but it came from the streets . They went around to poor neighborhood rech centers looking for young talented kids who can dance. Soul train would not have soul if it weren’t for the kids, they made the show by taking the latest dance movies from the streets and making it mainstream. They were the real celebrities of the show. When people tuned in every Saturday you will learn the latest fashion and dance moves. Each week it was something new, new style new music new moves, new dancers, and most of all a new way African Americans can be proud of there culture through Soul train. The dancers had such an impact that the fan idol them they where the first true black television star.

Black culture was a underground culture in the 60’s. For an average American to find out about their culture they had to walking in the streets of Harlem, but most of them were problem to scared.

Soul train in the70’s changes that by expressing black culture on national television. The show gave African Americans something to be proud of; this was there show and their time to shine. Music was a big part of show and they did not only have the hippest artist but they were all African American. Stevie Wonder, James Brown, The Temptation, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklyn. The list goes on and on. From on stage to on the dance floor they all had a major thing in common witch was they all were black and they were on national television expressing their culture through the power of soul.

When the success of the show grew it also changed behind the scene. For the first time African American was working on the set of a show as camera crew, stage crew and show producers. Soul train was an unstoppable force when it came to African American and it all happened due to One man, Don Cornelius. After 3 seasons DON was the most influential black man in media. He was the first black lead executive to own the rights to the show. Beside creating one of the most successful shows of all time and creating the first show made for African Americans, he capitalized on every opportunity he had to help the show and most of all help a fellow brother out. The show had the first black advertisement in media. Johnson Product Company, the creators of Afro Seen, aired there commercial during the show for the first time. This was un heard of at the time but Johnson product company increased there profit due to the majority of the people who use the product are watching soul train. Afro Seen then became the show lead sponsor. Soul train was unstoppable. Season after season it was something new and most of all it promoting black culture in the media for the first time.

We all know what hard time they went through with the civil rights movement in the 60’s and in the 70’s they were still fighting for there freedom. Jessie Jackson who was a civil right activist was on the show talking about the current issues of the time. Soul train was viewed by over 4 million people. Soul train was not only just a show for music and dancing but it kept you up to date on current issues.

In the end soul train was not only important to African American it gave them something of there own, there own show, there own style, there own dance moves. The minute soul train went national it was the start of a new beginning for African American. For the first time 4million viewers can experience the joys of black culture on tv. Season after season it just grew and grew and the when the times change the soul did not stop. It finally stopped in 2006. But soul train started a new wave of black culture in media. The Jefferson, the Cosby show, Stamford and son ,MTV yo rap, and BET network all owe its success to soul train by paving the way of black culture in media.

Thank you everyone my name is

Tyler D’Errico

                 And I wish you

                                   Peace love and soul                                                                           

Critiques

Along with my speech i made a power point to show the class what i was talking about. I started off the speech with a brief history on the show and how it was the first show made for African Americans.
Durring the rest of my speech i took my time ready and made sure i made good eye contact with the class. In the end my speech was around 10min and i though i did well. when it came to the class reaction they enjoyed it and they liked my power point and how it shows pictures of what i was talking about.

Bibliography

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBUec5E1Fp8
• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/arts/music/don-cornelius-soul-train-creator-is-dead-at-75.html?_r=0
• http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/01/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/don-cornelius-impact
• http://www.tampabay.com/features/media/soul-train-creator-don-cornelius-made-an-impact-far-beyond-black-america/1213480