Broadband in the Black Rural South

New research from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Expanding Broadband in the Black Rural South, highlights the importance of addressing the digital divide—and doing it as soon as possible. The Joint Center examined the overlooked and unique plight of Black residents in rural counties with populations that are at least 35 percent Black (152 counties in 10 Southern states), which the Joint Center refers to as the “Black Rural South.” As Dr. Dominique Harrison, the Joint Center's technology policy director, writes, "More than almost any other group, Black communities in the Rural South lack affordable, highspeed, quality broadband—38 percent of African Americans there report they do not have access to home internet. This is driven by both the lack of affordability and availability of broadband services. Expanding broadband could help reduce the deep racial and economic inequalities in education, jobs, and health care in the region."

According to Federal Communications Commission data, which generally overstates broadband's reach, providers have failed to deploy broadband infrastructure offering service at speeds of at least 25/3 megabits per second to a greater share of residents in the Black Rural South than other regions. The deployment of faster, quality broadband infrastructure in concentrated higher-income areas, also known as “digital redlining," facilitates economic and racial disparities. The timing of the Joint Center's research—and its ten recommendations to ensure high-speed, quality broadband for the Black Rural South—should aid the deliberations in Congress about making broadband more available and affordable throughout the US. On July 28, Dr. Harrison will moderate an all-star panel discussing the challenges and solutions to expanding broadband in the Black Rural South.