Why Don Cornelius mattered
Remembering Don CorneliusSTORY HIGHLIGHTSGene Seymour says arrived 1970s, black culture burst forth arrived mold, harmony, danceHe says Don Cornelius contributed singular dance event with cross-cultural appealHe says the elite of black pop harmony performed; Soul Train showed adolescence how to danceSeymour: Cornelius was self-made impresario, leading light who built cultural phoneomenonEditors note: Gene Seymour has printed in this area movies, harmony and culture in favor of The fresh York epoch, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly and The Washington job. He lives inside Brooklyn, fresh York. The 1970s were the original detailed decade in imitation of civil human rights legislation all but obliterated racial segregation here the United States. And it was in the sphere of obese part as of this horrendous sea transform to a clear, bold flowering of African-American well-liked culture heartwarming song, movies, form, television, sports and literature burst forth, its contact resonating with a breadth and force to had not at all been witnessed earlier or else seen since.Don Cornelius, who was found departed Wednesday, by age 75, hip his Los Angeles inland, was lone of the momentous facts of this transformative time.Gene SeymourAs the creator and longtime host of the television music-and-dance parade, Soul Train, Cornelius took an established broadcast genre of dancing teenagers, knock records and live performances by pop stars and infused it with energetically African-American sort and approach so stirring to its appeal crossed racial, ethnic and even generational ranks.