Talk:Soul Man (song)

Educated at Woodstock?
Since this song came out two years before the famous Woodstock Festival, to what does the line "I was educated at Woodstock" refer? Poldy Bloom (talk) 04:17, 3 May 2010 (UTC)


 * "Woodstock" was a school in the Woodstock area of Millington TN. Originally called the Shelby County Training School, it was established as a school for Black students in the school-segregation era. Eventually, it became Woodstock High School, and many students lived in dormitories at the school. It was known for strict standards, and demanded hard work from the students. One of the songwriters, David Porter, had been a student at Woodstock, and the school fit in with the "Black Pride" theme of the song. So the line has nothing to do with the Woodstock festival, but rather with an African-American school that was noted for excellence in a period when many African-American schools were substandard due to racial discrimination and neglect from local authorities.


 * Eventually, the schools integrated and the Black students went to other schools. Eventually, the school evolved into the current-day Woodstock Middle School, in Millington.


 * http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/local-news/former-students-gather-in-north-shelby-countySchool 139.68.134.1 (talk) 18:04, 4 December 2014 (UTC)