Gene Seymour says in 1970s , black culture burst forth in fashion , music , dance . He says Don Cornelius contributed singular dance show with cross-cultural appeal . As filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles helped set off the black-movie boom with 1971 's `` Sweet Sweetback 's Baadasssss Song '' ; as Richard Pryor 's ribald , so-real-it's-surreal stand-up comedy hit its stride by mid-decade ; as Alex Haley 's 1976 epic family saga `` Roots '' became the keystone to a nationwide phenomenon whose culminating TV miniseries is still talked about 35 years later , so did Cornelius establish , through `` Soul Train , '' a crucial gauge for pop music 's ebb and flow that no one in the entertainment business could ignore . He says the elite of black pop music performed ; Soul Train showed teens how to dance . Seymour : " The Black Arts Movement was a cultural revolution that changed American life for better or worse.
Gene Seymour says in 1970s , black culture burst forth in fashion , music , dance . He says Don Cornelius contributed singular dance show with cross-cultural appeal . He says the elite of black pop music performed ; Soul Train showed teens how to dance . Seymour : " The Black Arts Movement was a cultural revolution that changed American life for better or worse.