Project Location: On the side of the Magnolia Earnest Recreation Center, 252 Duke Drive, Norlina, NC.
Project Overview: The Soul City mural in Norlina, North Carolina, is part of Paint NC: 100 Murals in 100 Counties, Max Dowdle’s statewide public art initiative dedicated to restoring visibility to local histories that shaped broader social futures. Installed on the Magnolia Ernest Recreation Center pool building along Soul City Boulevard, the mural honors the ambitious vision of Soul City, a planned community founded by Floyd McKissick in the late 1960s as an experiment in Black self-determination, economic opportunity, and integrated civic life.
Rather than reducing Soul City to a historical footnote, the mural treats it as a living legacy. Developed in close collaboration with Warren County residents, community leaders, and local arts advocates, the project foregrounds collective authorship. Multiple design concepts were shared publicly, with community members invited to vote and participate directly in the painting process. This inclusive approach mirrors Soul City’s founding ideals: shared investment, collective labor, and belief in the power of intentional community.
Visually, the mural positions Soul City not as a failed utopia, but as an enduring act of imagination – one that continues to inform conversations about equity, planning, and possibility. Its placement on a recreational and communal structure reinforces the idea that legacy is sustained through daily use, gathering, and care.
Within the Paint NC series, the Soul City mural stands as a crucial chapter, affirming that visionary experiments, even when unfinished, remain foundational to North Carolina’s cultural and political landscape.