Southeastern Black Press Institute

Floyd B. McKissick (1922-1991) was born in Asheville, N.C. He was an attorney, businessman, and civil rights leader. McKissick married Evelyn Williams, with whom he had four children: Joycelyn; Andree; Floyd, Jr.; and Charmaine. The collection contains materials documenting Floyd B. McKissick's work as an lawyer, businessman, and civil rights leader. Included are items pertaining to his law practice in Durham, N.C.; his service, beginning in 1966, as national director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); his work as advisor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and his interests in politics and education. Many items relate to Soul City, N.C., a town owned and operated by African Americans near Warrenton, N.C. Included are items describing the impact of Soul City on rural Warren County, N.C., and Vance County, N.C. Among the companies documented are McKissick Enterprises of New York and North Carolina; City Development, Inc.; HealthCo, Inc.; Madison and McKissick Development, Inc.; McKissick S.C. Associates; the Soul City Foundation and other Soul City companies; and the Warren Regional Planning Corporation. There are also a few items relating to the McKissick family and to his affiliation with the Republican Party at the local, state, and national levels.

The Southeastern Black Press Institute (SBPI) was founded in 1977 as a demonstration project of the Curriculum in African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The project provided support to the black press in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Washington D.C., chiefly through technical assistance and leadership training for future journalists. Sonja Haynes Stone, the director of the Curriculum in African and Afro-American Studies, secured a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to plan and launch the project.