Soul City is not a city, but it aspired to be. Planned as part of a federal program supporting the development of “new towns,” master planned communities, Soul City was intended as a rural alternative to inner cities where Black Americans could realize economic and political self-determination. As envisioned in 1969, the community would have 50,000 residents and produce 24,000 jobs by the year 2000. Like all utopias, the reality fell short of the dream, but the dream gave rise to the reality. The visionary behind the ambitious plan was…
