The "Dirty Secret" of Lowndes County, Alabama

*Director, Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic and Professor of Practice, Washington University School of Law. Lowndes County's Black residents enjoyed the benefits of U.S. citizen-ship during Reconstruction, but that brief respite was ended by white racist violence-violence so extreme that it earned the county its nickname of "Bloody Lowndes"-with the imposition of Jim Crow laws.7 As of 1965, Lowndes County was majority Black, but had zero Black registered voters.8 The passage of the Voting Rights Act in August of that year did not bring an end to voter suppression and intimidation. In the morning, we'd empty the jars in the woods .. . Because most of Lowndes County is rural, most businesses and resi-dences lack a municipal sewer system connecting them to a wastewater treatment facility Instead, each landowner is responsible for their own waste. "20 A new septic system in Lowndes County, with its "imperme-able soils and high water tables" would easily cost more than $15,000, and up to twice that if engineering services were required.21 The Rushes' income was approximately $1000 a month, putting the repairs out of reach.22 Worse yet, Ms. Flowers discovered early on that homeowners ran the risk of fines or even jail for violations of the state public health code.23 Ms. Flowers describes a hearing at the local courthouse in which a young man had been cited for not having a septic system.