THE CAUSES OF ENDURING POVERTY
IN ALABAMA’S BLACK BELT*
Andrew A. Zekeri
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee, Alabama 36088
*Presentation to Regional Poverty Conference on “In the Shadows of
Poverty: Strengthening the Rural Poverty Research Capacity of the
South,” sponsored by Southern Rural Development Center,
Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, TN, and Rural Policy
Research Institute’s Rural Poverty Research Center, University of
Missouri, Columbia, MO. July 21-23, Memphis, TN.
POVERTY IN ALABAMA’S BLACK BELT
Map by Birmingham News, May 12,
2002
1. High Concentration of
“Poverty Prone” Groups
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
African Americans
Female-Headed Households
Teenage Parents
The elderly
Children under 18
Poorly educated residents
High Concentration of blacks
• High concentration
of black people
encourages poor
policies, poor
education,
inadequate
infrastructure, and
consequently, it
discourages
economic
development
• Unofficial Policy of
the 30% Rule
Percent African Am erican, 2000
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
USA
Alabama
Bullock
Dallas
Low ndes
Macon
Wilcox
High Concentration of blacks
= Racial Apprehension
• Many industrialists would not like to
live in a predominantly black
community. They feel that blacks can
be militant and unpredictable.
• Race matters. Thus, the axiom is:
“The blacker the county, the more
likely business will bypass it.” There
is an industrial redlining in Alabama’s
Black Belt.
2. Structural Characteristics
of the Area
1. Poor employment opportunities
2. Business closings
3. Poor public services and
infrastructures
4. Social cost of space
5. Globalization-Dependency
6. Local Politics that set people in
opposition to one another
High Concentration of Black People
High Concentration of Black People
High Concentration of Black People
The Elderly
The Neighborhood
The Neighborhood
Business Closings
Bud’s Going out of Business
Closed Gas Station
• Newspaper and other offices burnt down
Globalization=Dependency
Political Divisions Set People Apart
Local Politics and Poor Neighborhood
THE FUTURE OF ALABAMA’S
BLACK BELT
•
1.
2.
3.
It seems to me that efforts are needed at
three levels:
Federal and state efforts are needed.
At the local level, efforts are needed to build
local capacity for collective action and selfhelp.
Science and Education-there is a continuing
need to provide assistance to those who act
in the local society in response to local
problems.
Research Agenda for the
21st Century
• What is needed in research, from my
viewpoint, is to focus on local deficits
in the fundamental requirements for
social well-being, namely jobs and
income, services, equality, and
community.
• Figuring out how to build local capacity
in rural communities of the south is one
of the central challenges of the new
millennium for rural sociology.