Historic Black Alabama Community Fights Displacement for Concrete Plant

Residents of Mobile’s Africatown neighborhood say building a concrete plant near homes and a historic site is “a step backwards.”

1 minute read

January 11, 2026, 7:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Cochrane Bridge in Mobile, Alabama.

Chris Pruitt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons

Residents of a historic Black community in Mobile, Alabama are protesting the construction of a concrete plant in a neighborhood known as Africatown, reports Margaret Kates for AL.com.

The plant would make concrete for the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project for five years, then it would be dismantled. “But the plant is just 700 feet from the proposed Lewis Landing, a planned park on Three Mile Creek that celebrates the survivors of the slave ship Clotilda. It would also be a half-mile from homes in the community.”

Residents say the plant would be “a step backwards” in the community’s goal of revitalizing the area and would go against a 2022 “Safety Zone” that prevents certain industrial uses in the neighborhood. 

Meanwhile, ADOT has not finalized a timeline or funding for the actual bridge construction.

Friday, January 9, 2026 in AL.com

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