Heather Moore Roberson, dean of inclusive excellence and associate professor of community and justice studies and Black studies, had the opportunity to reflect on the impact “Soul Train” had in her life with SwagHer Magazine.
For Roberson, the variety television show was a safe haven for all things Black culture, including music, fashion, language, and dance. It was an essential cornerstone in Black communities that spanned over thirty decades, and something that was a household ritual and connection to her mother, who over time has remained an aficionado of Black popular culture.
“My earliest memories are of my mother listening and dancing to 1970s funk music in front of a record player and a jet-Black stereo system,” Roberson recalls, “and I often view Black music through her eyes… as a young child, I participated in daily quizzes about my knowledge of Black music from the 1970s and 1980s. My mother would play one song and ask, ‘Who is this?’ It piqued my curiosity about various forms of Black music from prior decades.”
