Prichard, Alabama, is many things, but rich ain’t one.
Alabama is the fourth-poorest state in the nation, as measured by median household income.
The town of Prichard, just north of Mobile, is one of the most impoverished towns in this poor state, with a per-capita income of $10,000.
But here’s how Prichard spent the first week of October: organizing a drive to send supplies to people in the Bahamas following the devastation of Hurricane Dorian. Not only that, but one town councilman is “challenging” all the other, wealthier cities in Mobile County to match Prichard’s effort.
Prichard, one edge of which was the site of a colony of the last slaves ever imported into the country, once was a thriving town of 47,000, with shipyards and paper mills providing good jobs. Both local industries eventually shuttered, though, and the town is down to about 21,000 inhabitants, 86% of whom are black. More than a third of the population is below the poverty line. Since 1999, the city has been in and out of municipal bankruptcy court several times, though it’s hard to keep track of which times and under what terms bankruptcy was granted.
Always, though, a core of “can-do” believers has kept a positive attitude about the town’s potential. It was the sort of mentality that turned this year’s discovery of what is believed to be the remains of that actual slave ship into a prideful, “look what we overcame” celebration.
Towns across rural America struggle to find an identity in a post-industrial world. Prichard just found the best way to put itself on the map: giving what little it has.
