Locomotive of love, peace and soul

When we were growing up as teens in the 1970's, Saturday mornings filled my sister and me with funky anticipation.

We'd race downstairs, flip on the Magnavox, and settle in to experience "the hippest trip in America" - Soul Train.

See, Soul Train wasn't just any television dance show. Soul Train belonged to us.

Soul Train showcased our R&B music, our artists, our dances, heck, even our black hair-care products. It was our cultural touchstone at a time when we were learning that, yes, black was beautiful - even if we weren't quite sure if we believed it yet.

But Don Cornelius, Soul Train's pinstripe-suited, haystack-afro'ed, deep silken-voiced creator and host, affirmed it for us. That's why it's so ironically sad that news yesterday of Cornelius' death at 75, from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home outside of Los Angeles, came on the first day of Black History Month.

With Soul Train, which ran from 1971 to 2006 in 100 markets, Cornelius' pioneering efforts made history for generations of African Americans. (Cornelius stepped down as host in '93, but stayed on as executive producer.) It would become the longest running syndicated show in history.

Aside from Motown's Berry Gordy, "Don Cornelius was hands down the most crucial nonpolitical figure to emerge from the civil rights era post-'68," Roots drummer Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson posted on okayplayer.com. ". . .Yes, the idea of the young black teenager not mired in legal trouble on the 6 o'clock news getting camera time was a new idea to most, so of course the fact the U.S. really got its first vicarious look at our culture was amazing."

On Soul Train, we'd watch stars such as Aretha Franklin (accompanying herself on piano with a fawning Cornelius by her side), James Brown (who performed a showstopping live concert with his band), and Stevie Wonder (who freestyled a song for the show live, much to the delight of the Soul Train gang). But the program also provided a venue for less-known acts.

Artists like the Gap Band. The Dramatics. Frankie Beverly and Maze. And a quartet of young, harmonizing divas from Oakland who called themselves the Pointer Sisters.

"Don's vision allowed for African American artists to be exposed to people all over the world through the power of television," said Sound of Philadelphia producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, in a statement after Cornelius' death. The duo created the show's theme song, performed by The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP).