MONTGOMERY, Ala. — From the birth of the
Confederacy to the struggles of the civil rights movement, the Black
Belt region of Alabama has been the center for much of the state's —
and the USA's — history.Now, a grass-roots effort is underway to give
this historic region a brighter future by getting it designated a
National Heritage Area. The Black Belt, which includes Montgomery, Selma
and 19 counties, is a crescent-shaped swath of dark, prairie soil that
bisects central Alabama from Mississippi to Georgia. Nationally, the
Black Belt region stretches from Virginia to Texas. Originally named
for its dark soil, the region has taken on a political and social
definition because of its large African-American population. Designation as a National Heritage Area — a
congressional decision — could jump-start tourism in the economically
depressed Alabama part of the region, says Tina Naremore Jones,
director of the University of West Alabama's Center for the Study of
the Black Belt. The process can take two to three years to
complete, depending on how legislation travels in Congress, says Rep.
Artur Davis, D-Ala., whose district covers most of the Black Belt. FIND MORE STORIES IN: Congress | Texas | Atlanta | Georgia | Virgina | Virginia | Richmond | African-American | Civil War | National Park Service | Department | Martin Luther King Jr. | Pulitzer Prize-winning | Postal Service | Gee | Bend | Mockingbird | Confederacy | To Kill | Monroeville | D-Ala | Edmund Pettus Bridge | Selma-to-Montgomery | Rep. Artur Davis | Dallas County Sheriff | Alabama River | Sumter County | Alabama Cooperative Extension Service | Hale County Efforts by the Black Belt Heritage Area Task Force, which Jones co-chairs, have been underway for about a year. "This is not something that will move through
Congress in a few months," Davis says. "It requires a tremendous amount
of groundwork and preparation before ever making it to Congress. The
area has to be defined, (and) gathering community support is
beneficial. Once it is introduced, I don't foresee any trouble in it
making it through the process. These are usually non-controversial
efforts." Jones says she hopes Davis can introduce the legislation in Congress this year. SOURCE OF THIS STORY
