Celebrating 40 years aboard the ‘hippest trip in America’ with Don Cornelius

Celebrating 40 years aboard the ‘hippest trip in America’ with Don Cornelius
Chicago honored 'Soul Train's' creator Don Cornelius at a concert celebrating the show's 40th anniversary in August. Photo courtesy of ‘Soul Train’
Celebrating 40 years aboard the ‘hippest trip in America’ with Don Cornelius
Chicago honored 'Soul Train's' creator Don Cornelius at a concert celebrating the show's 40th anniversary in August. Photo courtesy of ‘Soul Train’

Celebrating 40 years aboard the ‘hippest trip in America’ with Don Cornelius

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As part of a special encore presentation, Eight Forty-Eight looked back on the year’s milestones. There were a number of occasions to reflect and celebrate in 2011: the 20th anniversary of the Bulls’ first championship, 50 years since the Freedom Rides brought the Civil Rights Movement to interstates, 150 years since the start of the Civil War and 25 years since Oprah became a household name.

Oprah’s television success was, at least in part, thanks to the trail blazed by Don Cornelius. When Cornelius first pitched the idea of Soul Train—he didn’t get the warmest welcome. But when he came home to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary in Millennium Park over the summer, the reception was decidedly different. Eight Forty-Eight’s Richard Steele spoke to Cornelius before the event.