Hog Bayou & Environmental Racism in Africatown, Alabama

From its earliest days, Africatown has been tied to the water. When Timothy Meaher took 110 Africans from modern-day Benin to the United States to sell into slavery, the future founders of the town were forced to endure 45 grueling days at sea before seeing land again. After emancipation, these same Africans would teach fishing and hunting to their Black neighbors who had been born into slavery. In this sense, says Joe Womack, the survivors of the Clotilda taught those around them the essence of what liberty and independence meant.

But since the 1960s, pollution has posed an increasing risk to life in the area. It’s a problem that stems from the town’s absorption into Mobile, a bureaucratic shift that was to be of enormous consequence to the health of Africatown and its people.

Originally an independent community, by the mid-20th century Africatown needed help financing renovations. In 1960, residents voted to join nearby Mobile, a change they hoped would allow infrastructure to receive proper maintenance. In many ways, Africatown was still able to maintain its independence and distinctive traditions even after it became part of Mobile.

"Everything was outhouses and water wells, and the streets were all dirt streets, sand, not paved. And our neighboring small city Pritchard wanted Africatown basically because of the tax they would be getting from those industries in the area. And so Mobile said that they would give Africatown water, sewers, and pave the streets. Pritchard said water and sewers. So naturally the residents voted to be part of the city of Mobile.”

Joe Womack
President and CEO, CHESS

A chemical refinery was built near Hog Bayou, while a scrap metal facility became the new neighbor of the Mobile Country Training School. Much of the historic Lewis Quarters area was rezoned, opening it up for bulldozing and new development. Today, the area is home to a lumber mill and a meat packing plant.

Darron Patterson, president of the Clotilda Descendants Association, remembers growing up with the fumes of the industrial plants all around them. He says residents were not informed about the possible health risks posed by exposure.

In 2014, Womack and other Africatown residents protested the construction of an oil pipeline under the town's historic Mobile County Training School.

In 2017, over 1,000 residents of Africatown signed onto a lawsuit against International Paper alleging that the town’s high incidence of diseases such as cancer was a result of pollution from the mill. The case is still pending.

At present, community members are fighting the construction of an oil tank farm near Mobile County Training School, which locals say poses a grave threat to the town.

Vickii Howell, who helped create an international design competition aimed at developing infrastructure to accommodate and enhance tourism to the town, hopes that preserving Africatown's unique history can help strengthen the local economy.