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- MILESTONES, Page 55
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- DIED. Floyd McKissick, 69, maverick civil rights leader; of
- lung cancer; in Soul City, N.C. In 1947 McKissick helped lead the
- first integrated bus ride through the South. Four years later,
- following a protracted legal battle, he won admission to the
- all-white University of North Carolina Law School. As director
- of the Congress of Racial Equality in 1966-67, McKissick
- stressed the need for blacks to seek economic as well as
- political power. In 1972 he surprised his supporters by
- switching from the Democratic to the Republican Party. A few
- years later he began devoting his energies to building Soul
- City. Intended as a showcase for black entrepreneurship, the
- rural town dwindled after it failed to attract industry and
- government aid dried up. Last year he was appointed to a state
- judgeship.
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