You’ve probably seen the video of a conversation between the poet Nikki Giovanni and writer James Baldwin circulating the internet.  In this short clip,  they argue about relationships between men and women in the black community. The conversation is candid, and in 2019 we are left grateful that such an intimate conversation between two legends is available for us to view more than 50 years later. However, what was not made known was the dynamic man responsible for such a public viewing of this dialogue; his name was Ellis Haizlip.

Ellis Haizlip was the creator and host of the TV show, Soul!, which was broadcast by WNET (now known as THIRTEEN) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Haizlip joined WNET as the first black TV producer, and then went on to become the first black television host when Soul! first premiered in 1968. The show was groundbreaking because it was the first of its kind to give such a large platform to the display and discussion of black cultural forms like, music, visual arts, literature, as well as conversations about black political thought. Haizlip’s Soul! provided some of the largest stages to artists like Nikki Giovanni, Sidney Poitier, and the band, Earth, Wind & Fire. He even helped jumpstart the careers of the wife and husband  recording duo,  Ashford & Simpson, who he allowed to perform on the show before the release of their first album.

Haizlip was a black gay man, and therefore garnered criticism from individuals both inside and out of the black community about his sexuality. Devoted to representing the span of black political consciousness on his show, he frequently invited guests who he knew where anti-LGBTQ, for example, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, and challenged them to expand on their notion of ‘community’ and reckon with their own homophobia, and how it compromised their radical politics.

Haizlip’s Soul! demonstrated to the whole world the dynamism that existed in black culture and politics through the variety of guests he brought onto the show. Unfortunately, because Soul! was a publicly funded program, it was at the whim of the changing discourses around race in this country. When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, the pressure to integrate the show, meaning inviting white guests, threatened the show. The Corporation for Public  Broadcasting believed that a public show targeted to Black Americans was a “hindrance” to racial progress. On March 7, 1973, Soul! aired for the last time.

Despite Haizlip’s heavy involvement in the production of art before and during the Black Arts Movement,  time has placed the details of his life into relative obscurity. What we have left mostly are the memories and testimonies of his friends.

Little is known about Haizlip’s early years, but based on interviews with his friends, he was born on September 17, 1929  in  Washington D.C., and spent a significant part of his life there. He graduated from Howard University in 1954.  While he was in college, he was greatly involved in the arts, and he was the producer of the Howard Players in the school’s Department of Theatre Arts.

After college, he made the challenging move to New York City to advance his career in the Arts. Before Soul!, Haizlip produced shows and organized art festivals for the likes of James Baldwin, Cicely Tyson, and James Earl Jones. He also worked at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. One of his most well known accomplishments was the production of a 12-day Black arts festival called, “Soul at the Center,” which took place at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan in 1972 and 1973.  He soon grew as a mentor and friend of many artists during the Black Arts Movement.

Many of his friends admired his “encyclopedic” knowledge of African-American arts and culture, expressing that he was well-connected with all the major “key players” of the movement.

An executive producer of the Soul!, Christopher Lukas, describes his experience following Haizlap all throughout the city.

“Inside, Ellis was passionate about the need for change, but his exterior always remained cool. And dressed cool.” It was no doubt that this calm and collected demeanor made him a social butterfly, and a man that was well respected in the Black arts community.

Few people think of Ellis Haizlip when they think of Black art in the 1960s and 1970s, but he was in many ways, a significant backbone of the production of art and performance during the Black Arts Movement.

He died in 1991 from lung cancer. He was 61 years old.

Last year, his niece, Melissa Haizlip pulled together old interviews to create her documentary, Mr. SOUL!, to call to attention the uncelebrated life of  Black American figure, Ellis Haizlip.