Broadband in Alabama's Black Belt in 2025

The rural Black Belt of Alabama is among the poorest areas of the nation. Poverty, lack of health infrastructure, and health disparities involving HIV/AIDS and other diseases reflect the lower life expectancy of people in the region. The Black Belt region has the highest HIV rates in rural America. Using Alabama as a case example, the paper describes the role of illicit drug use in pathways to HIV transmission in the Black Belt and examines the relationship between drug use and social context with respect to HIV/AIDS disparities in the region. Published research and national and state data were triangulated for information on interactions between illicit drug use, social context, and HIV/AIDS. Illicit drug use is implicated in HIV risk in Alabama's Black Belt, but less so than in other parts of the nation. Published research suggests that the impetus for drug use involves status seeking in the context of heterosexual contact and economic disparities. HIV transmission in Alabama's Black Belt speaks to the tyranny of small places; that is, the risk of HIV/AIDS occurs in geographically bounded areas with a history of racial homogeneity, historically high rates of sexually transmitted infections, and clustered sexual networks in this isolated region. Social context is an important correlate of HIV risk in the Black Belt. The role of drug use in HIV risk is secondary to social-contextual factors involving rural isolation, racial homogeneity, and the racial disparities of the region.

On-site sanitation (OSS) is not universal in the rural United States: access to and function of available options are limited by geological, economic, regulatory, and policy constraints. In Alabama's rural Black Belt region, widespread impermeability of soils and a lack of locally accepted, cost-effective technical solutions contribute to limited access to functional OSS. Despite the existence of federal and state financial assistance programs intended to increase access to sanitation, potential beneficiaries may not be able to readily access assistance. Based on structured interviews with local stakeholders, this article provides an overview of the problem and perceived barriers to securing universal sanitation. Promising options that may increase OSS access include technical innovation, improving sanitation literacy, increasing the accessibility of financial assistance programs, and policy initiatives that proactively engage with underserved communities. These and other measures should be explo...

Objective: Socioeconomic status (SES) disparity is one of the primary factors for cancer disease. The majority of research on cancer disease and SES has been conducted for African American and white populations. This study explores the relationship between SES and cancer prevalence (Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer) in Alabama's Black Belt for major ethnic groups. Historically, Alabama's Black Belt counties are embedded with SES disparities, health care inequality, politics, race, ethnicity, oppression, and most importantly, lack of awareness of the cancer epidemic. Methods: Geospatial technology (GIS) has been employed to analyze the last two decades SES and cancer statistics from the U.S. Census, Alabama Department of Health (ADH), American Cancer Society (ACS), Center for Disease Control (CDC), and National Cancer Institute (NCI). The GIS analysis indicates an apparent SES disparity between the Black Belt (BB) and Non-BB (NBB) counties of Alabama and especially among African American population. Results: The geospatial analysis indicates SES is positively associated with cancer prevalence. Research also shows that African American cancer prevalence rates are higher than whites due to poor social and health equity, including access to health care, green food, transportation, and education. Conclusions: Alabama is one of the top states concerning the cancer epidemic. The research employed SES and cancer prevalence using geospatial technology. Data shows a close relation between SES and cancer prevalence in the African American population in the Black Belt of Alabama. The research strongly recommends the state adopt cancer awareness programs and social and health equity policy planning. Citation Format: Ram Alagan, Seela Aladuwaka, Upender Manne, Rajesh Singh, Manoj K Mishra. Cancer awareness and prevalence in the Black Belt of Alabama: A geospatial analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B094.

The term "Black Belt" has been in use in Alabama for over a century. While there is general recognition of where the core of the state's Black Belt is located in central and west-central Alabama, there is little agreement on the region's geographic extent for its being so named. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the origin and historic progression of changing definitions of the Alabama Black Belt. This paper concludes that the term Black Belt was first applied to Alabama in the late 19th century with respect to the physical, most often soil, characteristics of the region. By the early 20th century the term was also commonly associated with the region's large African-American population. By the mid-20th century the term Black Belt was frequently employed with respect to the region's people, soil, and culture.

The Black Belt of Alabama is a strip of prairie soil twenty-five miles and less in width that curves from the Eastern part of the State across it and into Mississippi on the West. It is bordered on the North and South by the towns of Montgomery, Selma, Linden, Marion, Greensboro, Eutaw, Livingston, Camden, and Union Springs. The characteristic black soil is formed by the mixing of the soft lime-stone base rock with the humus of the surface. The counties selected here for study are Sumter, Greene, Hale, Perry, Marengo, Dallas, Wilcox, Lowndes, Montgomery, and Bullock, but they include around the Black Belt' other sandy and hillside lands not characteristic of the prairie.1 Black Belters like to think that the in the vicinity of the prairie is superior to that in the sandy lands due to the background of wealth and culture which presumably existed there prior to the Civil War. Although Negroes far out-number the white people in the Black Belt, their preponderance does not constitute a basis for definition, since there are other sections of Alabama that also have heavy Negro population. The climate of the Black Belt is hot and the summers are long.

The current decline in the economic well-being of the residents of the Alabama's Black Belt communities is well documented. High poverty rates, limited job growth, falling real per capita income, and increased out-migration are signs of current economic problems. With the resurgence of interest in promulgating self-help and community action mechanism at the local, state, and national levels, the purpose of this research is to examine collective community action by local officials in the Black Belt Timber Dependent communities to meet the social and economic well-beings of local residents. Data from the case study research indicate that race is the primary factor in actions with a collective dimension in Forestville. Inequality based on race suppresses interaction among the residents whose lives and well-being are in fact tied together ecologically; and, without interaction, collective local action cannot exist. The community has not been hospitable to African Americans because they are viewed or seen as social inferiors and this view is expressed by many whites who grew up in the community. The white leadership discouraged collective action in order to maintain its hegemony in the community. The African Americans with political power have no resources and great exertion is needed to change established community relationships. In Forestville, racial and ethnic cleavages makes collective community actions to levelop local business and industry and human services impossible. Implications of the research findings are discussed.

T H E A L A B A M A R E V I E W 68 sense of purpose in the summer of 1965 had all but evaporated by the spring of 1968” after a series of “abortive advances and disorganized retreats ” on civil rights (pp. 238, 243). Carter’s discussion includes attention to selected grassroots efforts and civil rights organizations, but it focuses mainly in the policy discussions within the executive branch as “policy drift threatened to become policy paralysis, and concrete White House initiatives dwindled” (p. 244). In addition to the papers of the administration, Carter depends, perhaps too heavily, on more than 130 oral histories, six of which he conducted. Although his narrative often suffers from a confusing tendency to depart from a chronological presentation, it provides an important supplement to the works of Steven F. Lawson, Susan Youngblood Ashmore, Gareth Davies, Hugh Davis Graham, and Taylor Branch. CHARLES W. EAGLES University of Mississippi Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt. By Hasan Kwame Jeffries. New York: New York University Press. 2009. xviii, 348 pp. $39.00. ISBN 978-0-8147-4305-8. In 1906 the venerable scholar and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois wrote about his experience living in Lowndes County and the brutally corrupt forces of racism there: “I do not think that it would be easy to find a place where conditions were on the whole more unfavorable to the rise of the Negro” (p. 9). Half a century later, during the modern Civil Rights movement, the moniker “bloody Lowndes” referred to the well-earned reputation for dramatic acts of violent repression of any effort to expand democracy in the county. Indeed, a hundred years after the abolition of slavery, local whites erected such a brutal system of white supremacy that no black person was registered to vote in a county that was over 70 percent black. Yet, as historian Hasan K. Jeffries reveals in this excellent study, local people mustered the temerity to organize for new freedoms in the face of great risk. Since the end of Reconstruction, terrorist attacks against blacks who protested injustice created a climate where resistance seemed futile. Local, state, and federal indifference ensured that white supremacy would not be effectively challenged in the county. By detailing the various methods used to maintain white domination, Jeffries illustrates that, in many respects, Lowndes was no different from most parts of the South J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 1 69 for most of its history. By the mid-1960s, however, as many areas achieved some erosion of white supremacy’s codified structure, virtually nothing had changed in Lowndes. Using impressive original sources, interviews, and government documents, Jeffries describes the development of local activism, which pulled resources and support from the Lowndes diaspora , extending as far away as Detroit. In 1965 locals formed the Lowndes County Christian Movement for Human Rights and organized for voter registration. With the help of seasoned activists from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) such as Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), locals eventually created the Lowndes County Freedom Party (LCFP) to challenge the local Democratic Party, which was completely controlled by white supremacists. The LCFP’s adoption of the black panther as a party mascot in 1966 inspired black militants across the country. And while they had no formal connections with the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland, California, LCFP’s activists shared the belief in armed self-defense. The ambitious third-party “black panther” candidates did not win elections, despite a huge black majority. Voting fraud and intimidation continued after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the way to greater black suffrage . Merging with the National Democratic Party of Alabama, the local black leadership, under veteran activist John Hulett, began a series of compromises that ultimately ended the viability of third-party politics by 1972, but not before blacks were elected into important offices in the county, including Hulett as sheriff. Blacks moved into the Democratic Party leadership as whites migrated into the Alabama Conservative Party and eventually into the Republican Party. Jeffries makes an important contribution to...

In the United States, significant disparities persist in cancer incidence, mortality, and treatment outcomes, particularly among Black populations. Despite advances in medical care, disparities continue to challenge efforts to achieve health equity. Understanding and addressing these complex issues are imperative to ensure that all individuals, regardless of race or ethnicity, have equal access to effective cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Alabama stands out as the leading state among the top ten in terms of densely populated Black Belt counties in the United States. With 67 counties in total, Alabama is home to 24 designated Black Belt counties. Given this concentration, Alabama becomes a key focus for comprehending cancer disparities. The ongoing research seeks to examine the occurrence of various types of cancer among the predominant racial groups in the United States, focusing particularly on the Black Belt counties of Alabama. Data on cancer occurrences, obtained from the database of National Cancer Institute (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), offer insights into cancer incidences among various demographic groups, age categories, and specific types of cancer spanning the last five years (2016-2020). Analysis of the data, focusing on patients aged 65 years and older, was performed using GraphPad Prism 5 software. Graphs were created to visually represent and interpret the data regarding incidences per 100,000 populations. We observe significantly elevated incidences of major cancer types such as prostate, colon, lung, stomach, pancreas, and liver among Black males, and similarly heightened rates of uterus, cervix, stomach, pancreas, and kidney cancers among Black females, when compared to white populations. Notably, within Alabama's Black Belt regions, only a small number of counties have reported incidences of cancer regardless of gender and cancer types, except for prostate cancer in males and breast cancer in females. Moreover, in certain Black Belt counties, rates of colon and lung cancer (in both males and females), as well as prostate cancer in males and breast cancer in females, are exceptionally elevated compared to both the statewide average in Alabama and even the national average in the United States. Generally, females tend to have lower rates of cancer across various types compared to males. In conclusion, factors contributing to these disparities include genetic predispositions, socioeconomic status, healthcare accessibility, systemic biases, and cultural influences. Further investigations, including molecular screening studies, are imperative to corroborate these health disparities and foster community-wide cancer awareness and public health initiatives. Citation Format: Faith Onomeh, Anathbandhu Chaudhuri. Comprehensive examination of disparities in cancer incidences by race, gender, and age over 65 years in Alabama's Black belt counties, USA [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A081.

Popular conceptualizations of the Anthropocene tend to blur and blend humanity into a singular lump and task it with combating anomalous climate change. This essay questions the dominant narratives of the Anthropocene by excavating the author’s life in the Alabama Black Belt. Through a blend of autoethnography and historical research, it explores life in the Black Belt as an example of the ways in which Black and brown people, and their narratives, are erased in the Anthropocene. The Black Belt is home to rich advocacy movements led by those most impacted. This activism demonstrates that Black people are not passive in the climate movement. In fact, the Black Belt has engaged with ecological injustice movements throughout its modern history. Guided by Kathryn Yusoff’s conception of “a billion Black Anthropocenes,” this article aims to encourage praxis that is guided by inclusive and honest historical accounts of humanity and ecological injustice.

Health issues are a concern in Alabama's Black Belt region, which runs across the southwestern part of the state and includes some of the poorest counties in the USA. As part of a Center for Disease Control (CDC)-sponsored study, we collected data covering several cancer (e.g., prostate, breast, skin) and other health-related indicators (e.g., stress, insurance, stroke, heart disease) from 647 predominantly African-American adults over the age of 50 in 20 communities in 7 Black Belt counties in 2005 and 2006. Here, we provide an account of the state of the health of older African-Americans and compare their outcomes to those of their White counterparts in the region. African-Americans report having generally lower levels of health and were less apt to have a cancer history (ps<0.05) than the Whites in the region. Gender differences with respect to BMIs and smoking are also evident, with women having higher BMIs but lower levels of smoking. Physicians and researchers covering or interested in generally impoverished rural areas may find our results useful for comparative purposes.

A survey in Alabama's Black Belt counties reveals that, like other nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owners in the region, African-American forestland owners have diverse ownership objectives and occupations and represent the relatively financially well-off and better educated group in their communities. However, they have lower household incomes, hold their properties longer, and manage forestland less intensively than NIPF owners in general. The constraints they faced indicate a strong need to engage them in the stewardship of their forest resources, but such an effort calls for different landowner assistance programs and approaches.

Many rural communities in Alabama’s Black Belt region lack adequate sanitation, resulting in wastewater discharges that may pose risks to residents. To understand the scope of the problem in one community, we conducted three cross-sectional surveys in a small town with limited sanitation infrastructure in 2023. We measured a range of enteric pathogens in environmental samples by multi-parallel qPCR as well as fecal indicator bacteria E. coli and Enterococcus by culture and molecular methods. We examined soil samples (n = 58) from sites near failing septic systems or suspected direct surface discharges and comparison soil (n = 10) far from potential discharges to estimate sanitation-related pathogen hazards. We examined surface water samples from community (n = 8) and localized (n = 20) sites that may have been impacted by wastewater discharges. Comparing impacted and unimpacted soil samples revealed greater fecal contamination near known or suspected discharges, compared with control samples. The mean culturable E. coli count in impacted soils was 224 MPN/g (95% CI 0-510.5 MPN/g) and in unimpacted soils was 0.5 MPN/g (95% CI 0-1.5 MPN/g). We detected several pathogens via qPCR in impacted soil and surface water, including Acanthamoeba spp., Balantidium coli , Blastocystis spp., Cryptosporidium spp., and rotavirus. In community-level surface waters, 88% of samples were positive for E. coli by culture (n = 8, mean 3.04 x 10 5 , 95% CI 0-8.96 x 10 5 MPN/100 mL); 100% were positive for Enterococcus by culture (n = 4, mean 1.10 x 10 4 , 95% CI 0-2.55 x 10 4 MPN/100 mL); and we detected Acanthamoeba spp., Blastocystis spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Plesiomonas shigelloides ., rotavirus, and Yersinia enterocolitica , suggesting community-level wastewater discharges may degrade local surface water quality. Evidence suggests sanitation failures contribute to enteric pathogen hazards in this community.

The Alabama Black Belt was originally named for its dark, fertile topsoil, which was well suited for growing cotton, and in the early 1800s was once one of the most prosperous regions of the United States. Currently home to over half a million residents, the region is characterized by its rural character, lack of economic development (up to 40% of the population in some counties is below the US poverty line), lower-than-average educational attainment, and lower-than-average access to health care. Many areas in the region have dense clay soils that swell when wet and become practically impermeable to water, making them unsuitable for conventional septic system drainfields. Although many residents are connected to centralized sewer networks, these centralized treatment systems have a history of permit violations. These socioeconomic and geographical challenges, along with the high cost of more advanced alternative on-site wastewater systems, have resulted in raw wastewater on the ground in many locales, which is a public health and environmental justice concern. In this paper, we describe the existing conditions, explain the ongoing challenges with wastewater management in the region, and propose a number of future solutions for this complex problem. The proposed solutions include developing appropriate funding, upgrading and expanding centralized sewer networks, developing decentralized cluster systems, updating regulations, digitizing permit data, developing responsible management entities, improving education and outreach programs, developing operator training and certification for decentralized systems, and adopting low-flow plumbing fixtures. Aside from public health and environmental considerations, proper wastewater management is an important infrastructure for economic development and revitalization of this proud and once-prosperous region. Although the efforts discussed in this paper focus on the Alabama Black Belt, they are also relevant to other geographical regions that have limited access to centralized sewer networks and the soil, climate, and/or geological conditions that prevent the implementation of conventional on-site wastewater treatment systems.

We are the first researchers to investigate the impact of the water quality of a commercial marine waterway on the housing market. We use housing data for properties in proximity to the major waterways and minor tributaries of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in the Alabama Black Belt. Research shows a positive relationship between water quality and the value of waterfront properties. We use waterway impairment as a proxy to measure water quality to conduct a counterfactual analysis based on a unique endogenous regime-switching hedonic price model. We find significant empirical evidence that properties in proximity to the Black Belt’s major waterways could depreciate by approximately 22% compared to the counterfactual case of properties located on or near minor tributaries. A possible implication might be that homeowners prefer properties on or near minor tributaries of the Alabama Black Belt because of perceptions that the water quality is better than on major commercial waterways.

The Black Belt of the Deep South with rural areas in the states of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi has historically faced challenges that come with rural isolation, limited industry and financial services, poor healthcare options, and lack of educational opportunities. In the early 1990s, some institutions of higher education, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, sought to increase educational opportunities for African Americans living in these areas. This chapter provides a historic case study of a doctoral education program that was founded to increase the number of education leaders, especially African Americans with advanced degrees, who would work in Alabama. As a historic case study, it provides a general overview of the founding of the program including mission and vision, a retrospective of the types of opportunities provided to doctoral students, and reflections on ways in which the program has improved the students' professional practices from both faculty and students. One component of this retrospective is to trace those students living in and working in the Alabama Black Belt. A key understanding undergirding the importance of this work is that as school administrators educational knowledge levels increase, so does the personal knowledge base that they can contribute to the communities in which they live and work. In this way, the educational reach of the doctor of education program leads to improvements in the larger Alabama Black Belt through both community and P-12 school interactions.