Smithsonian has soooooul: Donation of 'Soul Train' artifacts to celebrate 40th anniversary of show prompts party

WASHINGTON -- Peace, love and soooooooul spilled out of a white tent on the Mall as a crowd boogied down a massive "Soul Train" line. The event celebrating a donation of artifacts from the popular 1970s-era TV show to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture had, appropriately, turned into a dance party.

A man in brown dress socks and white Converse shoes danced wildly next to a prim woman in a platinum sheath. Nearby, a woman dressed straight out of the iconic television program, in hot pants and platform shoes, grooved to the old-school music pumping through the speakers. Those in the multiracial crowd laughed and threw their hands in the air as they danced the Bump, the Loose Booty, the Robot and the Funky Chicken.

To help celebrate its 40th anniversary, "Soul Train" -- which began airing nationally in 1971 and became one of the longest-running nationally syndicated programs in TV history -- donated five iconic props Thursday night for the Smithsonian museum's exhibitions "Musical Crossroads," "Black Popular Culture" and "Make a Way out of No Way." The museum is set to be completed on the Mall in 2015.

The items that were donated: "Applause" signs, the 10-foot-wide neon "Soul Train" sign, the neon "Soul Train Awards" sign, silver African heads from the awards program, and the Scramble Board, on which dancers unscrambled word puzzles quickly then broke out in dance.