Funded Projects Query Form
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Production of a 90-minute television documentary and an interactive website about the first national television show on black culture, SOUL! (1968–1973) and a biography of its producer and host Ellis Haizlip.

This is a request to the NEH for a grant of $600,000 to support the production of MR. SOUL!, a 90-minute documentary about a crucial and unfairly forgotten milestone in American cultural history and the man primarily responsible for creating it. MR. SOUL! tells the story of SOUL!, a path-breaking television variety show devoted to the black experience in America, and of Ellis Haizlip, the producer whose broad vision and expansive cultural contacts helped to define it. MR. SOUL! is intended for a national PBS broadcast and a limited theatrical release.

Project fields:
African American History

Program:
Media Projects Production

Division:
Public Programs

Totals:
$550,000 (approved)
$550,000 (awarded)

Grant period:
9/1/2015 – 10/31/2018

Development of a 90-minute television documentary, an interactive website, a book, and secondary and post-secondary curriculum about the first national television showcase of black culture and its creator, Ellis Haizlip.

"Mr. SOUL! Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV" is a multi-year, multi-platform project exploring the groundbreaking PBS television series "SOUL!" while profiling its producer and host, Ellis Haizlip. From 1968 to 1973, at a pivotal point in American history, the "SOUL!" series changed the country's perception of African American culture and experience. The focus of the project is a ninety-minute documentary film intended for a national PBS broadcast. Directed by Samuel D. Pollard and Melissa Haizlip, produced by Melissa Haizlip and Airrion Copeland, edited by Jason Pollard and advised by Stanley Nelson. By examining the "SOUL!" series and the social context in which it was created, the "Mr. SOUL!" film will help contemporary audiences understand how culture is a fundamental aspect of political movement. Although "SOUL!" made a visible impact along side the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, the film reminds us of the various avenues which brought us as far as we have come.

Project fields:
African American Studies

Program:
America's Media Makers: Development Grants

Division:
Public Programs

Totals:
$40,000 (approved)
$40,000 (awarded)

Grant period:
9/1/2013 – 5/30/2014