Soul! was where Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire got funky, where Toni Morrison read from her debut novel, where James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni discussed gender and power, and where Amiri Baraka and Stokely Carmichael enjoyed a sympathetic forum for their radical politics. Broadcast on public television between 1968 and 1973, Soul!, helmed by pioneering producer and frequent host Ellis Haizlip, connected an array of black performers and public figures with a black viewing audience. In It's Been Beautiful, Gayle Wald tells the story of Soul!, casting this influential but overlooked program as a bold and innovative use of television to represent and critically explore black identity, culture, and feeling during a transitional period in the black freedom struggle.
- Cover
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Photographer’s Note. A Vision of Soul!, by Chester Higgins
- Introduction. “It’s Been Beautiful”
- 1. Soul! and the 1960s
- 2. The Black Community and the Affective Compact
- 3. “More Meaningful Than a Three-Hour Lecture”: Music on Soul!
- 4. Freaks Like Us: Black Misfit Performance on Soul!
- 5. The Racial State and the “Disappearance” of Soul!
- Conclusion. Soul! at the Center
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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