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Left Behind

in Alabama’s Changing Economy

Joe A. Sumners, Ph.D., Director

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The Black Belt: Alabama’s Third World

“The once lordly region, born in days when cotton was king and slaves built the kingdom, has become a blighted land of forgotten promise. It is according to statistical measures and the people who struggle to improve life in the region, Alabama’s Third World. A visitor to the Black Belt finds counties with sick economies that have dwindled for decades. . . A child in the Black Belt is more likely to be born out of wedlock, more likely to come home to poverty, and more likely to die in the first year of life. A man in the Black Belt is more likely to drop out of school before the ninth grade, leave the mother of his children and die of heart disease … Doctors and hospitals are so scarce that pregnant women and sick residents must travel up to 30 miles to the nearest health clinic. There is no local bus service and as many as a quarter of all households have no car. Infant death rates during parts of the 1990s surpassed those in Panama and Uruguay; the percentage of births to teenage mothers was higher then in Uganda and Indonesia. . . .

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The Black Belt: Alabama’s Third World

…Further, officials cannot recruit or keep high paying businesses in an area that lacks an educated work force, and they can’t improve education without the tax base businesses would provide. So there is nothing to draw new residents to the Black Belt….There is little to keep the region’s people rooted to their ancestral land. Since the beginning of the 20th century, in a trend that continued for 100 years, residents have fled the Black Belt for the promise of decent pay and dignified work in Birmingham or the North. …Those who stay are accustomed to failure. They are surrounded by ignorance, poverty, and low expectations.”

-- John Archibald and Jeff Hansen, “Life is short, prosperity is long gone,” The Birmingham News, May 12, 2002

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County Economic Vitality Index: The Great Divide

Index County Population Change Educational Attainment Income EmploymentRank Pop Chg Pop Chg HS BS or > HH $ Poverty Job Chg Unemploy

1990-2000 2000-06

1 Shelby 44% (1)24% (1) 87% (1) 37% (1) $61,972 ( 1) 7.0% (1) 31% (1) 2.5% (1)2 Baldwin 43% (2)20% (2) 82% (3) 23% (7) $42,227 (5) 10.0% (2) 15% (3) 2.8% (2)3 Madison 16% (14) 10% (7) 85% (2) 34 % (2) $49,441 (2) 11.7% (4) 8% (13) 2.9% (3)4 Autauga 28% (7)14% (5) 79% (8) 18% (15) $45,379 (3) 11.6% (3) 14% (4) 3.0% (6)5 Elmore 34% (3)15% (4) 78% (10) 17% (17) $43,645 (4) 12.5% (6) 14% (4) 3.0% (6)

Top 5 Average 33% 17% 82% 26%$48,533 10.6% 16% 2.8%

63 Choctaw -1% (56) -8% (64) 65% (50) 10% (49) $27,690 (55) 20.2% (51) -14% (64) 5.1% (54)64 Wilcox -3% (62) -2% (44) 60% (67) 10% (41) $19,682 (67) 30.4% (66) -2% (38) 7.7% (66)65 Sumter -9% (67) -8% (64) 65% (52) 12% (26) $21,189 (65) 28.3% (63) -7% (55) 6.1% (62)66 Bullock 6% (41) -7% (63) 61% (65) 8% (65)$20,485 (66) 30.3% (65) - 5% (49) 8.0% (67)67 Perry -7% (66) -6% (50) 62% (62) 10% (42) $21,640 (64) 30.4% (66) -17% (66) 7.6% (65)

Bottom 5 Average -3% -6% 63% 10% $22,137 27.9% -9% 6.9%

ALABAMA 10% 3% 75% 19% $37,062 16% 1.5% 3.6%

US 13% 6% 80% 24% $44,389 13% 5.2% 4.6%

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How Did We Get Here?

• Following the Civil War:• Alabama’s economy was devastated• Cotton prices plummeted (new world markets

increased supply)• Impoverished governments and social services

• Alabama lost its largest source of revenue (tax on slaves)• Property taxes increased 350%

• Emerging industrialization• Extractive and low value added industries (mines and mills)

• Rural poverty• Tenant farming / sharecropping

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Legacy: Ineffective Government

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Legacy: Racism

“But if we would have white supremacy, we must establish it by law.”

- John Knox, President of 1901 Alabama Constitution Convention

Constitution of 1901• WHITE SUPREMACY• Low taxes and less government• Centralized decision making in Montgomery• About 800 amendments

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Legacy: Racism

• In 1900, there were 181,000 registered black male voters in Alabama: in 1903, there were fewer than 5,000.

• In the first election after the enactment of the 1901 Constitution, overall voter turnout declined by 38% (white turnout by 19% and black turnout by 96%).

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Legacy: Racism

Alabama Education Spending Per Pupil

White Black 1890 $3.14 $3.10

1910 $10.17 $2.69

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Legacy: Low Expectations

It is not the duty, nor is it to the interest of the State, to educate its entire population beyond the primaries. Universal experience teaches that if a boy, without regard to his color, be educated beyond this point, he declines ever to work another day in the sun.”

-- Alabama Governor William C. Oates, 1894

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Legacy: Low Expectations

Alabama per pupil expenditures on education as a percentage of the national average:

18901890 28%28%19001900 17%17%19101910 33%33%19201920 39%39%19301930 43%43%19401940 37%37%20082008 81%81%

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Alvin Toffler: The Third WaveEvolution of Economics

1st Wave: Agriculture Economy2nd Wave: Manufacturing Economy3rd Wave: Information-based Economy

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Goodbye Old Economy Jobs

• Projected declining occupations by 2014:

• (Alabama Department of Industrial Relations)

– Sewing machine operators– Textile machine setters,

operators and tenders– File clerks– Order clerks– Computer operators– Mail clerks and mail machine

operators (except Postal Service)

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Alabama’s New Economy

Projected fast-growing occupations by 2014: (Alabama Department of Industrial Relations)

• Medical scientists• Computer software engineers• Physician assistants• Biochemists and biophysicists• Home health aides• Network systems and data communications analysts• Aircraft mechanics and service technicians• Medical assistants

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A strong economy requires a strong community.

Economic development requires a Economic development requires a foundation upon which to build.foundation upon which to build.

Roads, water, gas, electricity and sewers are Roads, water, gas, electricity and sewers are necessary for economic growth – necessary for economic growth – physical physical infrastructureinfrastructure..

At least as important is the community’s At least as important is the community’s civic civic infrastructureinfrastructure of strong local leadership, vital of strong local leadership, vital community institutions, public involvement, and a community institutions, public involvement, and a community mindset of pride and optimism.community mindset of pride and optimism.

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

-- Margaret Mead

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Keys to Community Prosperity: The 5 Ps

1. PERSPECTIVE– Understand the big picture.– Focus on community development before

economic development.2. PEOPLE– Engage citizens; focus on quantity of leaders.– Engage young people.

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Keys to Community Prosperity: The 5 Ps

3. PLANNING – Inventory community assets.– Create a shared vision. – Plan and don’t stop planning.– Work the plan.

4. PARTNERSHIPS– Build connections among stakeholders; work

together.– Partner with neighbors.

5. PERSISTENCE– Don’t give up.

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“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two. And I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone on before.”

-- Jacob Rits

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Reports Available at http://www.auburn.edu/ecdi

Joe A. Sumners, Ph.D. Director

334-844-4704

sumneja@auburn.edu214 Extension Hall

Auburn University, AL 36849

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