Marginally Stone Cold Solid Black History Month Moment #978: Soul Man

Now for something lighter on this leap year day, here’s a segment from the classic 1986 film Soul Man. Teaching suburban kids everywhere about the downside of being black, Soul Man starred C. Thomas Howell as Mark Watson, a rich white kid cut off from his parents who can’t afford tuition for Harvard law school. Along with his friend Gordon (Arye Gross), Watson concocts a scheme to apply for a black scholarship and wins it. The unbelievable factor is that he takes tanning pills to achieve his new ethnicity, but regardless, his actions take away the scholarship meant for Sarah (Rae Dawn Chong), an African American single mother of the cutest kid in the world.

Viewers may recognize a young Melora Hardin, who currently plays Michael Scott’s completely damaged girlfriend Jan on The Office and James Earl Jones, the voice of CNN and Darth Vader, as a tough as nails, no nonsense law professor. And of course, Hardin's disapproving dad is none other than Leslie Nielsen of Naked Gun infamy.