LEE COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) - After receiving more than 200 entries, the winner of the Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association’s Big Buck Photo Contest is a 5-year-old boy from the Salem community.

Catherine Coleman Flowers, a Lowndes County native whose civil rights complaint led to the 2023 settlement, has fought for years to help improve the lives of residents of the Alabama Black Belt.

The Black Belt region of Alabama was originally named for its dark, fertile topsoil, which gave rise to a prosperous antebellum economy. Now, the region is characterized by high poverty, low ...