“Girl, you better swing it! Push it baby!’’ yelled Tyrone “the Bone’’ Proctor, an original “Soul Train’’ dancer who taught the crowd iconic dances.
To help celebrate its 40th anniversary, “Soul Train’’ - which began airing nationally in 1971 and became one of the longest-running nationally syndicated programs in television history - donated five iconic props recently for the Smithsonian museum’s exhibitions “Musical Crossroads,’’ “Black Popular Culture,’’ and “Make a Way out of No Way.’’ The museum is set to be completed on the Mall in 2015.
The items that were donated: “Applause’’ signs, the 10-foot-wide neon “Soul Train’’ sign, the neon “Soul Train Awards’’ sign, silver African heads from the awards program, and the Scramble Board, on which dancers unscrambled word puzzles quickly then broke out in dance.
Before the Smithsonian dance lesson, Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the museum, told the crowd: “I accept this donation on behalf of every teenager like me who tried but failed to dance like the dancers on ’Soul Train.’ With this donation, it’s really clear — the Smithsonian just got hip!’’
Bunch said the acquisition would help the museum tell the story of “Soul Train,’’ the show that aired nationally until 2006 and became symbolic of the “black is beautiful’’ era.
Don Cornelius, the show’s host and founder who sported a perfect orb of an Afro, was the epitome of cool as he interviewed stars such as the Jackson 5, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin.
The celebration, which was part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s “Rhythm and Blues: Tell It Like It Is’’ program, opened with a panel discussion, moderated by museum curator Tuliza Fleming, about the show’s influence on television, culture, advertising, and race relations.
