When Chris Womack became the first Black CEO of Southern Co. in 2023, he called the company’s commitment to racial equity one of his guiding principles. His leadership of the third-largest private utility company in the world offered hope of fairer wages and more representative employment for thousands of Black employees and cleaner air and […]
Alabama
Posted inPolitics & Policy
His Father Bankrupted the Klan. Now He’s Going to Congress to Continue the Fight.
It’s the start of a new political era in Alabama. In November, Shomari Figures, a Democrat, won his race against his Republican rival Caroleene Dobson to represent Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, which had recently been redrawn to be majority Black after the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 2023 that the previous map likely violated the […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Black Voters Prepare for Backlash Ahead of Election Day
Activist Camille Bennett never backs down from a fight, despite her life being in danger. She’s endured racist and violent threats in rural Alabama, a part of a life she’s known since moving there as a teenager. She’s in Florence, her father’s hometown in the northwest part of the state known as The Shoals. In […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Feds Resolve Civil Rights Complaint Brought by Rural Black Alabama Community
On a Sunday in early October, 16 people, mainly elders, met under Timothy Williams’ gazebo. The ground was still soaked from a recent downpour in rural Alabama. It has become a routine gathering in their historic Black community over the past six years as they’ve battled through a flooding crisis brought on by a highway […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Partner Content
Small Town’s Trash Policy Has Left Black Moms Criminally Charged Over Unpaid Garbage Fees
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News. CHICKASAW, Ala.—Shaquala Jackson’s three-year-old daughter screamed. A rat was scurrying across the bathroom floor. “I grabbed the kids and ran out of the house,” she said. Jackson said that was the day she knew she and her three young children could no longer live in Chickasaw, a […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Rural Issues
Black Communities Left to Sink as Insurance Companies Abandon the South
On Sept. 29, Pastor Timothy Williams will lose the property insurance coverage for his home in rural Elba, Alabama. It’s another mark on a long list of recent letdowns for him in the aftermath of a persistent flooding crisis born by the expansion of a highway next to his home. Since the state raised and […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Rural Issues
Newbern’s First Black Mayor Won in the Courts, but the Fight Is Far From Over
NEWBERN, Ala. — The sunrays beamed on Patrick Braxton’s forehead as he raised his right hand and placed his left on a Bible, held by his wife, Freda. He stood confidently, ready to execute his oath of office for all to see. That moment — on an early August afternoon — felt so familiar yet […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
A Solution to Alabama’s Sewage Problem Is in Danger
When it rains in Alabama’s Black Belt, poop gurgles up from the earth. A new federal grant program wants to stop it from happening. It is a crisis that has long roots dating back to slavery, and has been the focus of Black Alabama activists for generations. Last year, the Justice Department determined that the […]
Posted inNews, Rural Issues, Voting
After Years of Litigation, First Black Mayor in Rural Alabama Town Gets to Serve
Patrick Braxton is overwhelmed with gratitude. He’s been juggling a yearslong legal battle to serve as the lawful mayor of his hometown, Newbern, Alabama. After years of harassment, his rural town enters a new chapter: Its first Black mayor will finally get to serve. Braxton will be reinstated as mayor of Newbern, according to a […]
Posted inIncarceration
Alabama Outlawed Slavery in Prisons. Is It Still Happening?
The day after Trayveka Stanley’s mother died, she was devastated. She was having trouble coping with her loss and needed time to grieve, but her plea for a day off from her prison job at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama, didn’t persuade its officials. The 32-year-old was still required to show up […]