The term ‘Black Belt’ in the US, particularly referring to the region in the South, is rooted in historical racism due to its association with the high concentration of enslaved Africans and African Americans. Historically, the black belt economy was based on cotton plantations – along with some tobacco plantation areas along the Virginia-North Carolina border. The valuable land was largely controlled by rich whites and worked by very poor, primarily black slaves who, in many counties, constituted a majority of the population. After 1945, a large fraction of the laborers were replaced by machinery, and they joined the Great Migration to cities of the Midwest and West. The \”Black Belt\” became a symbol of racial segregation, with Black people being confined to the area and facing systemic oppression. The region faces socioeconomic challenges, including unemployment and limited access to education and healthcare, which are partly rooted in the legacy of slavery and plantation agriculture. The Black Belt region stretches from eastern, south-central Alabama into northwestern Mississippi. It includes parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia and also extends into parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.