This article is about a town in the United States. See also Soul City (disambiguation)

Soul City (disambiguation)

Soul City may refer to:* Soul City, North Carolina* Soul City Records , a British record label* Soul City Records , an American label founded by singer and musician Johnny Rivers...

Soul City, North Carolina is a planned community

Planned community

A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in planned communities since...

 first proposed in 1969 by Floyd McKissick

Floyd McKissick

Floyd Bixler McKissick was born in Asheville, North Carolina on March 9, 1922. He became the first African American student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Law School. In 1966 he became leader of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, taking over from James L. Farmer, Jr. A...

, a civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 leader and director of the Congress of Racial Equality

Congress of Racial Equality

The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...

. Funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...

, (HUD) as one of thirteen model city projects funded through the Urban Growth and New Community Development Act, it was located on 5000 acres (20 km²) in Warren County

Warren County, North Carolina

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,972 people, 7,708 households, and 5,449 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 10,548 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...

, near Manson. The city was to contain three villages housing 18,000 people by 1989. It was planned to be self-contained, so that residents could work, receive health care, get schooling, and worship in town. Soul City was the first new town organized by African-American businesses. Commonly misunderstood as Afro-centric in focus, McKissick actually envisioned Soul City as a community where all races could live in harmony.

In 1972, the city received a grant of $14 million from HUD on the hope that industry would move to the planned community. Yet by 1975, the city had few homes and only one industrial building, "Soul Tech 1".

The city failed to reach its initial ambitions. Lawsuits and investigations into the use of funds by the Soul City Company, the city's developers, resulted in foreclosure in 1979. In 1980, there were 35 housing units, a clinic, a tennis court, and a pool. About 150 people were employed in the city.

Since that time, the city has grown somewhat, but not to the size originally planned. The former Soul Tech building was purchased by the adjoining Warren County Correctional Institution for expansion, and a number of new homes have been constructed.

Representative Eva Clayton worked in Soul City before being elected to the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

.