Letters Written in Support of SOUL!, 1969-73

February 7, 2009

Over the course of its four-year run, the Black variety program SOUL! was threatened with cancellation multiple times. Here’s a sample of letters of support written to the producers of SOUL! from viewers across the racial and economic spectrum. The letters show what SOUL! meant to New Yorkers, from schoolchildren to prisoners––and everyone in between.

The SOUL! program generated thousands of letters of support. Others we haven’t scanned: a petition from Con-Ed workers of NY with hundreds of names, and a letter from Italian Television asking to broadcast the show (and many others….) Images courtesy the executive producer of SOUL!, Christopher Lukas.

See archival episodes of SOUL! at any time and see the premiere of the documentary Independent Lens: Mr. SOUL!, about host Ellis Haizlip, on February 22, 2021 at 10 p.m.

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