Poverty journalist says rural Black Belt deserves more federal funding and attention, like Appalachia has received

A map showing deeply disadvantaged counties in the South (left) compared to an 1860 Census map showing slavery distribution across the Deep South. (Modern map by University of Michigan)

Appalachia has been the de facto face of rural poverty since President Johnson went to Eastern Kentucky in 1964 to promote his War on Poverty. That visit presaged action; the Appalachian Regional Commission was created the next year to promote economic development.

Since then, the ARC has received $38 billion in federal funding (adjusted for inflation) and has helped reduce disparities in 13 states. But the Black Belt has a great deal of rural poverty as well, much of it among people of color, and it isn't receiving the attention and funding it deserves, Greg Kaufmann writes for The Nation magazine.

Greg Kaufmann

The Black Belt was originally named for a swath of rich, dark soil crossing the Deep South, but came to refer to the high African American population, since many slave-based plantations were located on that soil. Broadly defined, the Black Belt has about 300 rural counties with populations between 30 and 80 percent African American. As of 2008, 83% of rural African Americans lived in the Black Belt. "The black rural South’s current unemployment rate of approximately 14 percent and child poverty rate of 51 percent are double those found in rural counties included in the ARC, according to a forthcoming paper from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies," Kaufmann reports.

Though "piecemeal legislative efforts" have been made to boost investment in the Black Belt, "none include all 11 states, focus exclusively on Black Belt counties, or—critically—prioritize community participation in designing and leading a commission to address the Black Belt’s unique challenges," Kaufmann writes. "We’re just two weeks away from the South Carolina Democratic primary, on February 29; six more Black Belt states will vote on March 3. It’s time for a presidential candidate to not only engage with the needs of people living in this region but also begin to rectify a history of exploitation and neglect."

Kaufmann is a contributing writer to The Nation and the journalist-in-residence at the Roosevelt Institute; his work focuses on poverty.