Re-examination of a 16-county area of southern Alabama last studied in 1968 found it still economically depressed, especially for blacks. Black unemployment remains two to three times higher and black poverty rates up to five times higher than those of whites. Blacks are generally employed in the lowest paying jobs. Both black median family income and the percentage of blacks over 25 who graduated from high school are half that of whites. Industries new in Alabama since 1968 have mostly bypassed the area, particularly the majority-black counties where blacks have political control. Black infant mortality rates have decreased but they are still much higher than white rates. In six counties examined in depth, black education, employment, and health conditions and services have improved but there has been little change in conditions for blacks relative to whites. Although blacks have been elected to a wide variety of political offices in five of the six counties, they are offices with little power. Furthermore, whites maintain economic control. Whites in the black-majority counties also have withdrawn from the public schools and other black-controlled institutions and have established segregated institutions. A state of "neosegregation" exists in which blacks and whites accept the separation of the races as a way of life. (CMG)