This is the first story in Capital B’s “Disconnected: Rural Black America and the Digital Divide” project, which explores the disparate effects of broadband accessibility on Black Americans in the rural South. This project is made possible by a grant from The Center for Rural Strategies and Grist. Aaron Sankin, investigative reporter for The Markup, […]
Rural Issues
Posted inEminent Domain, Rural Issues
Why This Rural Community Is at War With a 130-Year Railroad Company
SPARTA, Ga. — On a muggy and humid afternoon in mid-September, a frustrated Mark Smith stands in the kitchen of the home he and his wife, Janet Smith, built over 30 years ago on the 600 acres his grandfather acquired in 1926. Just a few feet away, the home where Mark grew up still stands. […]
Posted inEminent Domain, Rural Issues
Resources for Black Families Fighting for Control of Their Land
Josephine Wright can finally enjoy a bit of good news after eight months of fighting in court over her land in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. While the dispute isn’t over, the 93-year-old is getting a newly built, five-bedroom home on her property. For more than 30 years, Wright has lived on the land, which […]
Posted inEminent Domain, Rural Issues
Years of Water Woes Could Cost Alabama Residents Their Homes
PRICHARD, Ala. — On a hot afternoon in September, Angela Robinson Adams walked to her backyard, where the recent rain showers created “her own swimming pool.” Adams’ yard rarely floods, but the streets in her Alabama Village neighborhood often do. She had little water pressure in her home, so she called the Prichard Water Works […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
How Black Farmers Are Navigating Climate Change With Limited Federal Support
Six months ago, Anthony “AJ” McKenzie, a 30-year-old cool vegetable crop and livestock farmer in North Carolina, stopped farming on his 40 acres. Last year, a drought killed at least 85% of his crop, which caused him to lose income. Usually, he’d grow his cabbage and turnip, mustard, and collard greens twice in the fall […]
Posted inRural Issues
Alabama and the Politics of Retribution
Alabama is becoming fertile ground for the dilution of Black voters’ political power, experts say. Last week, the state’s Republican leaders refused to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s order to redraw a congressional map to include two majority-Black districts. Gov. Kay Ivey approved a map with just one majority-Black district. While Black Alabamians make […]
Posted inRural Issues
A Black Man Was Elected Mayor in Rural Alabama, but the White Town Leaders Won’t Let Him Serve
NEWBERN, Ala. — There’s a power struggle in Newbern, Alabama, and the rural town’s first Black mayor is at war with the previous administration who he says locked him out of Town Hall. After years of racist harassment and intimidation, Patrick Braxton is fed up, and in a federal civil rights lawsuit he is accusing […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
Black Farmers Are Tired of Waiting for the USDA to Level the Playing Field
Third-generation farmer Cary Junior has spent the past three years trying to figure out how to ensure that Black farmers can benefit from the programs and financial resources within the United States Department of Agriculture. As a member of USDA’s minority farmer advisory committee, Junior set out to address the effectiveness of the existing programs […]
Posted inEminent Domain, Rural Issues
Developers Sue 93-Year-Old Woman Over Her Land. She’s Fighting Back.
For over 30 years, Josephine Wright, 93, has enjoyed the peace and comfort of her home in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina — known more as one of the state’s largest tourist attractions than a refuge for formerly enslaved people. Wright’s property, which has been in the family since after the Civil War, has served […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
Black Farmers Refuse to Back Down After Federal Judge Dismisses Suit
Farmers of color plan to appeal a recent federal court judge’s ruling, which they say is a continuation of Jim Crow and erases their commitment to right the historical wrongs against them. Six months ago, John Boyd Jr., Kara Boyd, Lester Bonner, and Princess Williams filed a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. government, including the […]