He did an entire show that was dedicated to Black women. It featured artists, like the dancer Carmen de Lavallade, and poets like Nikki Giovanni, Jackie Earley, Sonia Sanchez, and Mari Evans. It was unheard of to have a show dedicated to poets, let alone female poets. Carolyn Franklin, the sister of Aretha Franklin, was on the show. People who really know soul music are aware that she was one of the best singers of our time. Of course, rest in peace, Aretha, but she was not on the show, her sister was… [Ellis Haizlip] was an openly gay African American man who saw the struggle and wanted to make sure they had a voice. — Melissa Haizlip
To celebrate the ongoing success of her remarkable documentary MR. SOUL!—the story of producer and host Ellis Haizlip and his groundbreaking PBS television series Soul!—filmmaker Melissa Haizlip (Ellis’ niece) and the Museum of Tolerance present a watch party and post-screening discussion with Giovanni, Blair Underwood, and Doug Blush, moderated by Harvard professor Sarah Elizabeth Lewis.
See link below to register.
MR. SOUL WATCH PARTY and Q & A
Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles.
Tuesday, December 29.
4 pm on the West Coast; 7 pm East Coast.
Directed by Melissa Haizlip.
Now streaming.
Melissa Haizlip, Mr. Soul! (2020), from top: Ellis Haizlip, photograph by Ivan Curry; Nikki Giovanni on Soul!; Amiri Baraka (right) with Haizlip on the show, photograph by Chester Higgins; the J. C. White Choir with Haizlip, photograph by Alex Harsley; Mr. Soul! poster; Patti LaBelle performs on Soul!; the show’s director Stan Lathan (far left), cameraman, Haizlip, and Melvin Van Peebles (facing television camera), photograph by Higgins; Melissa Haizlip. Images courtesy and © the filmmaker, the photographers, and Shoes In the Bed Productions.
