Soul City Revisited: Law, Design, and the Limits of the American Dream
Continuing Education Credit Eligibility: NC CLE | AICP CM | HSW
What happens when a bold vision for Black economic power meets the realities of law, politics, design, and infrastructure?
In the late 1960s, civil rights leader and visionary developer Floyd McKissick Sr. set out to build Soul City, North Carolina, a planned community designed to expand economic opportunity, challenge conventional ideas about urban development, and demonstrate what a socially just and economically viable community could look like.
The vision was ambitious. The stakes were high. And the story of what happened next is far more complicated than a simple tale of success or failure.
Soul City Revisited brings together individuals with direct connections to the project alongside a leading scholar of its history to examine the forces that shaped Soul City's rise and fall. Through the lenses of law, design, engineering, public policy, and economic development, this conversation will explore what Soul City reveals about the possibilities (and limits) of transforming a visionary idea into a physical community.
Harvey Gantt (Panelist)
Architect, Civic Leader, Former Mayor of Charlotte
Harvey B. Gantt is an architect, civic leader, and former Mayor of Charlotte whose career has bridged architecture, planning, public service, and equitable urban development.
Gantt made history as the first African American student admitted to Clemson University and later became Charlotte's first Black mayor. Early in his professional career, following his master's degree in architecture from MIT, Gantt worked on the Soul City project, connecting him directly to one of North Carolina's most ambitious experiments in planned community development.
Throughout his distinguished career, Gantt has brought together design, civic leadership, and public service, with a longstanding commitment to equitable urban development.
At Groundbreakers Conference, Gantt will bring a perspective that is both deeply personal and professionally grounded: that of an architect who contributed to Soul City during its formative years and a civic leader who has spent decades thinking about the relationship between communities, design, and opportunity.
Floyd McKissick Jr. (Panelist)
NC Utilities Commissioner, Attorney, Former NC Senator
Floyd McKissick Jr. is an attorney, former North Carolina State Senator, and longtime advocate for equity through law and public policy.
The son of Soul City founder Floyd McKissick Sr., McKissick Jr. worked on the Soul City project as its Planning Director during its formative years, giving him a unique connection to the history and vision behind Soul City.
McKissick received an A.B. Degree in Geography, from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.[8] He received a master's degree in Regional Planning from UNC-Chapel Hill, and a master's degree in Public Administration, from Harvard University.[8] McKissick received a Juris Doctor Degree from the Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina.[8] McKissick has practiced law since 1983.
McKissick previously served as a member of the Durham City Council and the North Carolina Senate. During his time on the Durham City Council, he was also involved in the city council’s Public Works Committee, the Joint City-County Planning Committee, and the Legislative Committee.
McKissick's career has centered on advancing inclusive growth and advocating for infrastructure investment throughout North Carolina. Through his work in law and public policy, continues to engage with questions of equity, opportunity, and the systems that shape communities.
Thomas Healy (Panelist)
Professor of Law; Author, “Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia”
Thomas Healy is a researcher, writer, historian, and professor of law at Seton Hall University. His book, “Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of American Utopia,” chronicles the 1970s attempt to build a city dedicated to racial equality in rural North Carolina. It won the Hooks National Book Award, was selected as a New York Times Book Review editor's choice, and was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal.
Professor Healy has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Public Scholar Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has also been a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, and a visiting professor at Columbia Law School. His scholarship has appeared in the Michigan Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the Iowa Law Review, and other journals. He has written essays and book reviews for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Nation, and The L.A. Review of Books, and his work has been featured in The New Yorker and on NPR’s Code Switch and Radiolab podcasts. Additionally, he appeared as an expert commentator on the PBS Docuseries "Great Migrations."
Sharon Madison (Moderator)
CEO, Madison Madison International
Sharon Madison is the CEO of Madison Madison International, a Detroit-based design, engineering, and construction management firm. Sharon is the 3rd generation in her family to lead Madison Madison International architects, engineers and planners. Taking the firm into new areas beyond design, she has been a trailblazer in the fields of program management, master planning, construction management and real estate development. Her firm was the first program management firm headquartered in the City of Detroit. Madison’s company has managed over $5 billion dollars in design and construction programs and has had projects in 21 States, the West Indies and Africa.
Sharon is owner of The Julian C. Madison Building, a 71,000 sq. ft. office building and was the first African American female to own property in downtown Detroit and successfully maintained the building during the economic downturn.
In honor of her father, Sharon founded the Julian C. Madison Foundation, which develops programs, opportunities and scholarships for students interested in careers in architecture, engineering, planning, construction and other technology related fields. Madison has also served on the Boards of The Detroit Downtown Development Authority, The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, The National Women’s Business Council, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Kettering University, the Detroit, Black Chamber of Commerce, and The Detroit Police Foundation. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute Public/Private Partnership Council, The Building Owners and Management Association’s Government Affairs Committee, The Real Estate Executive Council and The Counselors of Real Estate. In 2019, she was named one of the Top Women in Real Estate by Crain’s Detroit Business, and is a 2020 recipient of the Real Times Media Who’s Who In Black Detroit recognition.
Ms. Madison has an AB and MUP from The University of Michigan.
