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.
Telegram from Ralph Bunche, winner of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize
from a teacher in Harlem
a letter from seemingly typical white, liberal fans: "We do not watch SOUL! bc it is black, education, or good for us..."
A Queens fan with a big TV.
a group of family/friends/neighbors in Queens writes for SOUL! in the hopes that it will save "a few false fire alarms, whitey's head, stores, and my sanity."
An 11-year-old takes the time to write for SOUL!
"Training Schools" in NY was another word for juvie. The director of the NY State organization that ran all of the various schools around the state felt that SOUL! was very important to his wards; here's his plea for its continuance.
a plea from a white, curmudgeonly fan
A plea from a white fan
From a soldier in 1969; a plea to keep SOUL! on the air for the black soldiers coming back from Vietnam
the CPB's survey of black families on how much they watched SOUL!
The letter that came with the kid's drawings in support of SOUL!
A Brooklyn kid's drawing in support of SOUL! (page 1)
A second drawing depicting SOUL! from the same Brooklyn kid, Stephen Pagan
Letter from a woman in rural NY, page 1
Letter from a woman in rural NY, page 2
Letter from a woman in rural NY, page 3
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