Alabama Black Belt

An upcoming show may be good for bird watchers, but not for neighborhood bugs. The annual black belt birding festival starts tomorrow, and that includes mowing day at the Joe Family Farm. Tractors stir up the hay, and that sends insects into the air. The goal is to attract birds like scissor-tailed flycatchers or Mississippi kites to swoop down for a snack. Here’s more on the annual event and the people who show up with binoculars in hand.

Fannie Etheridge has been quilting for 30 years, but she’ll be the first to tell you that the legacy of Gee’s Bend started long before her. She shared a beautiful insight during our latest Quick-Fire Quips: The women who started the Freedom Quilting Bee didn't have five-year business plans—they had an idea, a community and the drive to build something from nothing. Today, those quilts aren't just blankets, they are world-renowned art.

Alabama’s Gulf coast is known as a haven for migratory birds and a favored spot for birdwatchers. But, it’s the west part of the state’s Black Belt region may draw up to two hundred “birders” for an annual event held by the Alabama Audubon Society. The “Black Belt Birding Festival” is expanding to close to six counties this year including Marengo and Lowndes. This part of the state is considered a “hidden gem” for observing the state’s feathered tourists.

Turkey hunters in central Alabama are being invited to take part in a unique photo competition. Alabama Black Belt Adventures are holding what’s called the Turkey Shoot photo contest.

Today marks two years since the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments that would change Alabama’s political landscape. It was later, in June of 2023, that the justices told Alabama to redraw its Congressional voting map to better represent African Americans. The court case known as Allen versus Milligan created the new U.S. House District Two in part of Alabama’s Black Belt. The APR news team spent most of this year investigating the issues impacting voters there. Part one of our series “A U.S. House seat, if you can keep it” can be found at apr.org.

Public health experts from some of the nation's leading research universities have deployed a massive medical trailer to rural parts of the South as part of an ambitious and unusual new health study. The researchers aim to test the heart and lung function of rural residents of Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The Alabama Department of Labor is out with the State’s latest unemployment report. Communities in the State’s region known as the “Black Belt” are ranked as having the highest number of residents without jobs. However, quarterly figures from the Economic Policy Institute indicate that African American workers in Alabama have had better employment levels than much of the nation.

The Alabama Department of Public Health is reminding residents of Lowndes County to complete an Environmental Health Assessment. The evaluations will help the department identify which households need septic tank installations.

Memorial Day marks the start of the summer tourism season, but not just along the Alabama Gulf coast. But, the State’s visitor industry is bigger than that.

Voters in a new Alabama congressional district at the center of an ongoing legal and political dispute will return to the polls Tuesday to select the nominees in a U.S. House contest that could help decide control of the narrowly divided chamber this November.