Soul Train 1971 T-Shirt

Soul Train was an American musical variety television show that aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history, the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The origins of Soul Train can be traced to 1965 when WCIU-TV, an upstart UHF station in Chicago, began airing two youth-oriented dance programs: Kiddie-a-Go-Go and Red Hot and Blues. These programs—specifically the latter, which featured predominantly African American in-studio dancers—would set the stage for what was to come to the station several years later, when Don Cornelius would bring Soul Train to TV.