But as striking as seeing Black luminaries (or soon to be luminaries) in their heyday, it\u2019s also impressive to see the diversity of Black talent Haizlip brought into the fold and made space for.<\/span><\/p>\n Obscure groups like The Johnson Girls<\/strong> from south of the Mason-Dixon had their time under the bright lights in New York City. And Haizlip, a gay Black man, even interviewed Louis Farrakhan, performing the sleight of hand of challenging the Nation of Islam leader on homophobia while still honoring his allure and influence. Ultimately, the beauty of SOUL! <\/i>is that it allowed a range of Black cultural figures to come together all under one roof, paving the way for other cultural shows and events through the years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While SOUL! <\/i>was still running, another pioneering program, <\/span>Soul Train<\/em>,<\/b> emerged. The brainchild of showman Chicago radio announcer, Don Cornelius<\/strong>, the American music variety television show was broadcast nationally from 1971 to 2006\u2014one of the longest-running syndicated programs in American television history. Soul Train<\/em> made hay by featuring big-name R&B, soul, and funk acts of the 1970s including The Temptations, Ike and Tina Turner, <\/strong>and Smokey Robinson<\/strong>. Program sponsor Johnson Products Company provided ample advertising of their signature Afro Sheen hair products, the perfect totem for the “Black is Beautiful” movement.<\/span><\/p>\n Soul Train<\/em> is mostly remembered for its high-profile music and dance acts, but like Haizlip, Cornelius also found other figures who were shaping culture and highlighted them, even if briefly. Black <\/span>Time <\/span><\/i>magazine journalist Wallace Terry<\/strong>, who made a name for himself covering Vietnam, hitched a ride on Soul Train<\/em> to talk about Motown-produced <\/span>Guess Who’s Coming Home: Black Fighting Men Recorded Live in Vietnam,<\/span><\/i> the first recorded history of Black soldiers in any war. Another one of Terry\u2019s works, <\/span>Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War<\/span><\/i>, inspired two pieces of Black cinema\u2014<\/span>Dead Presidents<\/span><\/i> and Spike Lee\u2019s joint <\/span>Da 5 Bloods.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Soul Train<\/em> also had interludes like <\/span>“Soul Train Scramble Board,”<\/span> where contestants were given 60 seconds to unscramble a set of letters to form the name of that episode\u2019s performer or notable figure in Black history, though Cornelius usually made sure everyone came out a winner lest the culture be set back.<\/span><\/p>\n Don Cornelius (second from right) with The Staple Singers during production of a 1974 episode of Soul Train. [Public domain]<\/p><\/div>In the late 1980s,\u00a0Soul Train<\/em>\u00a0launched the\u00a0Soul Train Music Awards<\/strong>, which honor the top performances in R&B, hip hop, and gospel music (and, in its earlier years, jazz music). The awards continue to this day, years after Cornelius’ death in 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Cornelius](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/2\/27\/Staple_Singers_on_Soul_Train.jpg\")