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Floyd B. McKissick biography

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  • NAME: Floyd B. McKissick
  • OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Legal Professional
  • BIRTH DATE: March 09, 1922
  • DEATH DATE: April 28, 1991
  • EDUCATION: North Carolina Central University, University of North Carolina Law School
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Asheville, North Carolina
  • PLACE OF DEATH: Soul City, North Carolina

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Floyd B. McKissick was the first black recipient of a law degree from the University of North Carolina. He specialized in civil rights cases.

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Synopsis

Floyd B. McKissick was born on March 9, 1922, in Asheville, North Carolina. He was the first African American to receive a law degree from the University of North Carolina Law School. He specialized in hundreds of civil rights cases in the '60s. In 1966, he served as national chairman for the Congress of Racial Equality. He developed a planned community called Soul City before his death in 1991.

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Civil rights leader, lawyer, business executive. Born in Asheville, North Carolina. After receiving a bachelor's degree at North Carolina Central University, with the legal help of Thurgood Marshall McKissick entered the University of North Carolina Law School at Chapel Hill and became its first black recipient of a law degree (1951).

McKissick practised in Durham, NC (1952??66) and specialized in hundreds of civil rights cases brought before the courts in the 1960s. He was legal counsel for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) before becoming CORE's national chairman (1966).

McKissick left CORE (1968) to launch Floyd B McKissick Enterprises, Inc, a corporation involved in organizing and financing businesses. An arm of that company, Warren Regional Planning Corp, was formed to develop Soul City in North Carolina. He wrote Three-fifths of a Man (1968).

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