The African-American Heritage Month Committee will be hosting a free event that will take the crowd on a trip down memory lane.

“Soul Train: 80s and 90s Edition with DJ ResQue” will be at 7 p.m. Friday in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

This is the second annual Soul Train event as part of African-American Heritage Month.

Veneicia Duckett, a senior family and consumer sciences major, is the coordinator for the African-American Heritage Month Committee.

Duckett said performances by Rhythm & X-tacy Dance Team, Couture Modeling, and The Heartbreakers are expected.

Duckett said last year was a success despite of it being on a Thursday night. Since this year will be on a Friday night, it is expected to have an even greater turnout.

Julianne Adegoriolu, a junior kinesiology and sports studies major, is the public relation coordinator and will help out with making sure things run smoothly.

“Soul Train” was a popular TV show that aired from 1971 through 2006, and it included dancing in a group and often had special performances from musical artists.

It is a commonly African-American tradition that some people bring back to this day.

During the event, music from the ‘80s through the 2000’s era will be played.

Because the event will be Soul Train themed, students may come dressed the style of the ‘80s and ‘90s. 2000s and 2010s attire is accepted as well.

Sekiyah Ware, a sophomore sociology and psychology major, is the vice president of Rhythm & X-tacy.

Ware said Rhythm & X-tacy would be doing a Missy Elliott tribute to most of her old songs and a few of her new ones. The other two organizations’ performances are unknown at this time.

Students can participate in activities including Soul Train Scrabble board and a Soul Train dance. With the board, students will have to put scrambled letters together that will spell the name of an artist just like in the show.

A Soul Train line is when a group of people is divided onto two sides and someone goes in between and starts dancing down the line. After one person makes it down the line someone goes in after and so on.

Gift cards to Buffalo Wild Wings or the University Union will be given out. Students can also win an African-American Heritage shirt if they managed to guess the Scrabble board questions correctly.

Janet Pernell can be reached at 581-2812 or jopernell@eiu.edu.