News | October 4, 2024

Africatown’s historic legacy of resilience and revival

Welcome to Africatown, Alabama. (Julie Dermansky)

Just north of downtown Mobile, Alabama, a small community with a big history is fighting for its future. 

Africatown was established in 1866 by the people who survived the harrowing journey on the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land in the U.S. more than 50 years after the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed. 

The survivors and their descendants forged a new life while preserving their traditions and cultural heritage, built homes, and created a self-sustaining community bustling with stores, barbershops, churches, schools, and even two post offices. 

We’ve been here all our lives. But now, it’s like we’re living in an industrial park.

Felice Harris, resident

But today, Africatown residents are facing a modern-day battle to preserve their incredible history and the basic right to clean air and clean water as paper mills, factories, chemical plants, rail lines, and interstates have encroached on the once vibrant community.  

Historic roots marred by legacy pollution  

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there are 62 regulated and active industrial facilities within the 3.5 square mile boundary of the City of Mobile’s Africatown Planning Area and an additional 143 proximate to Africatown, a staggering amount that doesn’t include inactive facilities or the community’s legacy pollution concerns.  

The H.O. Weaver asphalt plant in Africatown, Alabama. (Julie Dermansky)

Mae Jones, who came to Africatown in 1975, moved into town at the same time as industry’s presence ramped up in the community. 

“The environment was horrible,” Mae says. “But the community was full. People were living everywhere. You didn’t have to go out of the community to get anything you needed.” 

“We’ve been here all our lives,” says Felice Harris, who has lived in the Plateau neighborhood of Africatown for over 65 years. “But now, it’s like we’re living in an industrial park.”  

The home she grew up in, passed down through generations, now sits under the shadow of industry, including the H.O. Weaver asphalt plant, Arkema Chemical Plant, and several other polluting facilities. 

“You’d see white flakes falling from the sky,” she recalls. “We thought it was something fun to play in, but we didn’t know it was poisoning us.” 

The flakes Felice remembers were emissions from the now-shuttered International Paper plant, covering the streets and homes of Africatown. Many in the community are now dealing with health issues they believe are directly caused by both today’s pollution and yesterday’s mess left behind by companies, many of which have since packed up and left.  

“So many of us have health problems,” Felice says. “You can’t tell me it’s not from all of this.” 

Forging an invaluable partnership 

For Ramsey Sprague, the mission to protect Africatown is personal. As volunteer Board President of the Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition (MEJAC), Ramsey has spent over a decade working alongside residents to hold polluting companies accountable.  

Born in Louisiana and raised in Texas, Ramsey moved to Mobile in 2013 after years of advocating for environmental and climate justice for Gulf coast communities, including fighting the Keystone XL pipeline. “When the residents approached me, they said, ‘We want to fight these pipelines like you fight pipelines,’” he says. 

His introduction to Africatown began with a serendipitous stop during a cross-country bike trip, when he came across the historical markers about the Clotilda. 

“I’d never heard of Africatown or the last slave ship, and I thought, ‘How do people not know this?’” Ramsey says.  

From that moment, he knew this community had a story that needed to be told—and a fight for justice he wanted to join. 

Formed in 2013 by Africatown residents in partnership with local stakeholders and regional advocates, MEJAC works hand in hand with community members to raise awareness about environmental hazards, advocate for policy changes, and to support community-led efforts to protect public health and the environment. 

The need for more air monitoring 

A major focus of MEJAC’s work has been securing comprehensive air quality monitoring, something that Alabama’s Department of Environmental Management has resisted for years.  

Residents and advocates continue to push Alabama regulators to install more air monitors, like this one seen in north Birmingham, to get a better understanding of the scope of industrial pollution in the area. (Julie Dermansky)

“There’s no real air monitoring in Africatown,” Ramsey explains. “The state has said, ‘We don’t see how you can justify that, but we’ve been saying, ‘We don’t see how you can’t.’” 

Without air monitoring, there’s no way to fully understand the extent of the pollution affecting Africatown. This has been a key part of MEJAC’s advocacy, as they continue to demand a cumulative impact study to begin assessing the true harm of these industries.

Since 2010, state regulators have significantly reduced the number of air pollution monitors across Alabama. For nearly a decade, SELC and groups statewide have demanded that ADEM strengthen its annual air quality monitoring plan.  

Last year, MEJAC, SELC, and Birmingham-based partner GASP pushed ADEM for better air monitoring in Africatown to help inform citizens about the quality of the air they breathe. The groups also urged the agency to expand the state’s monitoring network to protect public health and appropriately analyze air quality, and to conduct a meaningful analysis of environmental justice concerns.  

How can we hold these companies accountable if we don’t have the information?

Ramsey Sprague, MEJAC

In response, ADEM agreed to move one of their air monitors that captures ozone, soot pollution, and sulfur dioxide, from the city of Chickasaw to Africatown. But the agency has yet to take any action or communicate further about its timeframe for relocating the monitor, and advocates believe additional pollutants need to be monitored.  

“The fact that there’s no data is the problem,” Ramsey says. “How can we hold these companies accountable if we don’t have the information?” 

“State regulators must make air monitoring a priority and work closely with the Africatown community to start to address the pollution they have endured for far too long,” says SELC Project Attorney Jaclyn Brass. “Every resident in Africatown and across metro Mobile deserves robust air quality monitoring. State leaders and our agencies must do more to better protect communities who are living in the shadow of these polluters.” 

A community in action

Ramsey has also been focused on supporting the community in taking action.  

Over the years, MEJAC has offered a range of training sessions, helping residents understand their rights and how to organize against environmental threats. From training on nonviolent civil disobedience to workshops on how to document environmental violations, the organization is equipping residents with tools to protect their health and their heritage. 

For Joycelyn Davis, a direct descendant of Clotilda survivor and Africatown founder Charlie Lewis, the efforts to preserve this invaluable place is both personal and historic. 

SELC Senior Attorney Christina Andreen Tidwell, MEJAC’s Ramsey Sprague, local expert Jocelyn Davis, and SELC Project Attorney Jaclyn Brass visit the “Memory Keeper” statute, which represents the past, present and future of Africatown, in the Africatown Heritage House Memorial Garden. (SELC)

“It means a lot. It’s home,” she says. “I’ve traveled everywhere, but I don’t want to live anywhere else because I feel like other places don’t need me, but Africatown needs me.” 

Joycelyn is part of the Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation, and she’s combining working hard to protect the community’s history with MEJAC’s commitment to a healthier future.  

“We need policies,” she says. “We need somebody at the state level getting us some funding and protecting everything that needs to be protected.” 

The effects of pollution have already driven many residents, especially younger ones, away from Africatown. And the sense of being forgotten by the state of Alabama and city of Mobile is a feeling many share. 

“The city’s not for us because anything derogatory or health hazardous, they’re going to send it right out here,” Mae Jones says. “This is a worldwide known historical community, but that doesn’t matter to the city or the state because it’s a Black community.” 

The road to revitalizing Africatown  

Karlos Finley, who serves with the Africatown Redevelopment Corporation, understands the role of rebuilding economic development opportunities that would benefit the community and begin to right environmental injustices as he strives to bring housing and businesses back to the area.  

“This is the only place in the world where the last slave ship came into the United States of America,” Karlos says. “That’s historic. But every community deserves to be healthy, and children deserve to grow up in a safe neighborhood.” 

Yet despite the frustration, there is hope. Karlos, Jocelyn, and so many others continue the effort to revitalize Africatown into a prosperous community where children can grow up healthy and proud. 

For Ramsey and MEJAC, the path forward is clear.  

“It’s about more than survival,” Ramsey says. “Africatown’s future should be about thriving. The people here deserve clean air, clean water, and the chance to live without fear of what’s in their environment.” 

And residents know that it might be now or never if they’re going to ensure a healthy future for a place with so much history. 

“The time is now,” says Joycelyn. “I don’t want to wait 10 years for Africatown to be restored. We need action now, for our future and for the generations to come.” 

MEJAC will continue to push for air monitoring and hold ADEM accountable, ensuring that Africatown gets the protection it deserves. 

“We’ve made some progress,” Ramsey says. “But there’s still a long road ahead.” 

Through advocacy and partnership, folks in Africatown hope to usher in a new era of accountability for polluters. And they want to be a part of it. 

“We’ve been through a lot,” Felice says, “but we’re still here. We aren’t going anywhere, and we’ll keep fighting because Africatown is worth it.”