In 1969, McKissick
proposed Soul City, a community in Warren County, NC, to invest in Black
businesses focusing on the development of Black economic power. Meyers served as
the Executive Director of Soul City.
Meyers joins
Floyd McKissick, Jr and Dr. Charmaine McKissick-Melton, children of the
legendary civil rights leader and director of the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE) to discuss the impact of Floyd Sr’s unfilled dream at Black Capitalism:
Lessons from Soul City on March 30 at Provident1898. The event begins at 5:30 p.m.
Dr. Nishani
Frazier, associate professor of history and American studies at the University of
Kansas, will join Meyers and the children of McKissick’s legacy. Floyd Jr follows
in the footsteps of his father as a former North Carolina State Senator and
Charmaine is a former associate professor at North Carolina Central University.
McKissick
envisioned three villages housing 18,000 people with jobs in industry, retail, residential
housing and services. Soul City promised a place to work, go to school, shop,
receive health care and worship on Sunday morning. A place for Black people to
prosper in a community removed from limits imposed by institutionalized racism.
The vision preceded
the collective pleas of the Black Power Movement. It emerged before Black Power
became a slogan and “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” became the anthem of
resistance for Black people. Soul City received a grant of $14 million in 1972 from HUD.
North Carolina added $8 million in resources before Senator Jesse Helms
attacked McKissick vision of Black capitalism.
Meyers, also
McKissick’s son-in-law, will join in a family conversation regarding what
happened to the once bold vision of Black capitalism. The decline of Soul City
in 1975 is the result of several factors – a dwindling national economy,
negative press coverage aligning Soul City to the separatist rhetoric of the
Nation of Islam and the criticism of Helms and other politicians.
What happened
to the vision in support of Black capitalism?
The dream
for local Black economic development began in 1898 when John Merrick, the son
of a slave, joined with investors to form the North Carolina Mutual and
Provident Association. The business of the company increased from less than one thousand
dollars in 1899 to a quarter of a million in 1910. The discussion on Black
Capitalism: Lessons from Soul City is held in the building symbolic of the
potential of McKissick’s dream.
As Carl
Webb, one of the owners of Provident1898, walks through the space he helped
create to manifest the ongoing dream of Black capitalism in Durham, questions linger.
What
happened to Soul City?
Why is it so
hard for Black people to build beyond the vast disappointment of the promise of
McKissick’s vision?
Can we
resurrect Soul City?
Please use this link to
register:
I had no idea about this! Thank you and your questions are thought provoking. There is no way to "undo" what has been done but I do love the idea of "righting" what we can, you know
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