The Forgotten 1980s Battle to Preserve Africatown | History
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on February 20, 2023
John H. Smith (left), mayor of Prichard, Alabama, unsuccessfully campaigned for the creation of an Africatown national park.
Courtesy of the Smith family
On a rainy spring morning in 1983, John H. Smith went to the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. to square off with the Reagan administration over a bill dealing with Black history. The odds were stacked high against him, but Smith was hopeful.
A few years earlier, at age 32, Smith had been elected mayor . . .
