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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
Size | 5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 4000 items) |
Abstract | Initiated and led by African American civil rights activist Floyd B. McKissick, Soul City in Warren County, N.C., was to be a new town administered by African Americans. In 1969, McKissick approached the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Department of City and Regional Planning (DCRP) for consultation and assistance in planning Soul City. John A. Parker, then head of DCRP, offered his and his colleagues' services to McKissick, and the DCRP faculty also used Soul City as a case study in their courses, requiring planning students to develop planning reports on various aspects of Soul City and its region. The material in the Soul City Collection was brought together over several years by DCRP faculty and F. Stuart Chapin, Jr. Planning Library staff. The collection was developed to serve as a reserve reading for DCRP courses dealing with new towns, and to document DCRP's role in the development of Soul City. The collection additionally illustrates DCRP pedagogy. It includes reports, proposals, correspondence, meeting minutes, legal documents, financial documents, administrative documents, articles, clippings, brochures, promotional materials, and video recordings about the planning and development of Soul City. |
Creator | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Department of City and Regional Planning. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Johanna Russ, September 2007
Encoded by: Anne Wells, August 2019
Updated by: Anne Wells, August 2019
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Native North Carolinian, lawyer, and former leader of the Congress of Racial Equality, Floyd B. McKissick, led the initiative to create Soul City in Warren County, N.C., a new town to be administered by African Americans. Soul City, announced by McKissick in January 1969, received a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guarantee under the Urban Growth and New Communities Act of 1968. As McKissick and his company, McKissick Enterprises, Inc. moved forward with plans to create and develop Soul City, they approached the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Department of City and Regional Planning (DCRP) for consultation and assistance in planning the new town. John A. Parker, then head of the DCRP, offered his and his colleagues' services to McKissick, and Parker went on to serve on the Soul City Foundation Board of Directors until his retirement in 1974. After Parker's retirement, DCRP participation in Soul City diminished somewhat. Before that, though, DCRP faculty also used Soul City as a case study in their courses, requiring planning students to develop planning reports on various aspects of Soul City and its region.
Soul City received a great deal of media attention both because it was one of a handful of new town projects underway at the time and because of its African American leadership and administration. Soul City focused its early efforts on developing infrastructure in the region so that it could later support residential and industrial developments. Just as it began to move its focus from infrastructure to attracting industry to create employment opportunities, Soul City began to draw negative media attention.
Questioning its lack of industry, media began to make allegations about Soul City's use of federal funding. As the doubts heaped up, McKissick, adamant that funds were being managed sufficiently and that the lack of industry was due to Soul City's newness, agreed to an audit by an independent agency. The audit cited a few instances of mismanagement, but it largely found the Soul City Company innocent of any financial or legal violations. The damage, however, was done. Progress in Soul City was stalled for almost a year while awaiting the audit results, and, in the bad national economic climate, this delay was hard to overcome. The questions of Soul City's progress also caused HUD to question the entire New Communities program. The media continued its scrutiny of Soul City despite the audit results, and politicians also became involved in questioning Soul City's progress. Ultimately, in 1980, HUD withdrew its backing of Soul City, and the new town could no longer sustain itself. HUD acquired the development and did not pursue further construction.
Back to TopThe material in the Soul City Collection was brought together over several years by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Department of City and Regional Planning (DCRP) faculty and F. Stuart Chapin, Jr. Planning Library staff. The collection was developed for two reasons: first, to serve as reserve reading for DCRP courses dealing with new towns; and second, to document DCRP's role in the development of Soul City. DCRP's role is captured through inclusion of correspondence among DCRP faculty and McKissick Enterprises staff and through planning proposals produced by DCRP faculty. It includes reports, proposals, correspondence, meeting minutes, legal documents, financial documents, administrative documents, articles, clippings, brochures, promotional materials, and video recordings about the planning and development of Soul City.
Of note in this collection are the 1979 reports of the Soul City Task Force and Avco Community Developers that led to HUD's withdrawal of funds. Soul City's subsequent legal complaint to prevent HUD from acquiring control of Soul City development also appears in the collection. Also of note are the 1969-1972 student papers from UNC Planning students. These papers illustrate not only thoughts about how to develop Soul City, but also how the DCRP used Soul City as a case study in its pedagogy. The entire collection, created, in part, as reserve course reading, further illustrates DCRP pedagogy. Of additional note are the articles and clippings published about Soul City and the promotional publications and newsletters produced by the Soul City Foundation which document the activities and programs of Soul City.
This collection is divided into five series: student papers; planning proposals and reports; operations of Soul City Foundation, Warren Regional Planning Corporation, and UNC Department of City and Regional Planning; publicity and promotional material; and video recordings.
Back to TopArrangement: Chronological.
For several semesters, the nascent Soul City was used as a case study for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of City and Regional Planning courses. Planning 222 especially focused on Soul City, requiring graduate students to produce proposals for developing Soul City. The course professors, personally involved with the planning of Soul City, shared the student proposals with Floyd B. McKissick who responded favorably to the work.
Included in this series are student reports, a master's thesis, correspondence about the courses, and course announcements about UNC courses related to Soul City.
Folder 36 |
Alston. "A strategy for legitimate citizen participation in economic growth" master's thesis |
Folder 38 |
Course Announcements and Correspondence |
Arrangement: Chronologically by producer of the report.
Numerous planning reports and proposals were consulted and produced during the development of Soul City. Documents created by government agencies about comparable or neighboring regions as well as about Soul City itself are included in the Soul City Collection. Planning proposals on Soul City were also produced by University of North Carolina faculty, outside consultants (around half of the reports from outside consultants were produced by Hammer, Greene, and Suer), and Soul City organizations including McKissick Enterprises, Inc., Soul City Foundation, and Warren Regional Planning Corporation.
This series is comprised almost entirely of reports. Some maps and blueprints, however, appear as report attachments. Additionally, some reports include correspondence in the form of cover letters introducing the report to colleagues. As much as possible, these materials have been kept together.
Arrangement: Chronologically by content.
The material in this series further documents the role played by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Department of City and Regional Planning (DCRP) in the planning of Soul City. After Floyd B. McKissick's request for advice and consultation, faculty members, especially John A. Parker (Jack), became heavily involved with planning Soul City, serving on boards and committees for the Soul City Foundation and the Warren Regional Planning Corporation, and organizing events. This series also documents the activities of the Soul City Foundation Board of Directors. The material in this series also relates information about Soul City finances, administration, and programming.
This series is comprised of meeting minutes; correspondence; planning documents; administrative documents; legal documents; financial documents; event invitations and programs; and material related to Soul City programming.
Folder 114 |
Soul City Task Force, February 1969 |
Folder 115 |
Soul City Economic Model Reports, July 1969-November 1969 |
Folder 123 |
Soul City Planning Conferences, 21-22 February 1969; 21-22 March 1969 |
Folder 124 |
Event announcements and invitations, 1973-1974; undated |
Arrangement: Chronologically by producer.
This series documents the publicizing of Soul City both through articles in print media and through promotional items produced by Soul City. This series is comprised of newspaper clippings, journal articles, brochures, newsletters, and other promotional material. Several articles were maintained in separate folders by the Planning Library staff. Other clippings were interspersed throughout various folders. Individual article folders have been retained. Clippings have been photocopied and grouped into one folder. In some instances, photocopies of articles are all that remain in the collection.
Five articles that were listed on the original inventory for the collection had gone missing. The journals and newspapers in which they originally appeared were located in UNC libraries, and copies of the articles have been re-added to the Soul City Collection. These five articles appear in the Folder 127. Three of them were on microfilm, and the photocopies are difficult to read. Users may wish to consult the microfilm in the North Carolina Collection themselves for:
-Olive, Cornelia. "Planning phase nears end for Black new town" and "The philosophy of Soul City is 'I've got a right to dream'," Durham Morning Herald, 29 August 1971
-Hunt, Marvin. "The resurrection of Soul City: a parable of power," Spectator Magazine, 12 November 1987
-"Soul City growing, not dying," Herald-Sun, 10 June 1991
Processing information: Titles compiled from original containers.
Video recordings of interviews and discussions regarding Soul City. "Gottschalk" most likely refers to David R. Godschalk, Chapel Hill Town Council member and longtime UNC regional planning professor.
Videotape VT-05469/1 |
Discussion of Soul City Presentations, 19 February 1970: tape 11" Open Reel Video |
Videotape VT-05469/2 |
Discussion of Soul City Presentations, 19 February 1970: tape 21" Open Reel Video |
Videotape VT-05469/3 |
Gottschalk: tape 11" Open Reel Video |
Videotape VT-05469/4 |
Gottschalk: tape 21" Open Reel Video |
Videotape VT-05469/5 |
Gottschalk: tape 31" Open Reel Video |