Selma, Alabama | What Happened To This Place? 

I lived in Selma and went to school at South high school during the 60s I was from wva and didn't understand the complete concept of why the town was divided I lived off of old Montgomery highway and would go and talk to the people who lived there yes I am white and stood up for anyone who was being picked on that is why I was alienated at school I was brought up to see no color but only as equal in everyone God loves us all

Wish those houses could be fixed up and occupied again. I love the shotgun houses. I remember when a family could be happy in a small home. I hate to see these homes disappear.

That is so sad. There should be something that could be done to get this town back up. There are so many towns like this all over the USA.

I currently live in Selma. We have the highest unemployment rate of the state right now. It sad to see how horrible my city has fallen.

I am a Pilipino and was able to visit Selma, Alabama in June 1984 to see American Fine Wire Corp, located in Ravenwood Drive. I remember coming from Montgomery Airport and drive south to Selma, for about an hour and O saw nothing but cornfields along the way. I stayed for 3 nights at the 19th century renovated house of the owner of American Fine Wire. I remember Selma as a small but a good place, quiet and beautiful and the sir smell of grass, no pollution. Sad to know what happened now to Selma

It's not the size of the home, it's the amount of love put into it.

It’s a ghost town almost. This happened all over the west where timber and mining industries fell. Unless you find a new tax base this can happen anywhere. As for the homes being small this was normal everywhere. My house is 133 years old and has some additions but was probably 600 square feet when built. Today, families like 2500 feet or more so they can sit as far away from each other as possible to look at their phones. As a family.

My aunt lived in Selma and raised three children with her husband. My aunt worked at the bookstore at the mall for 30 years. Her husband work for a train company. The train pass daily right behind their house. The whole house would rattle when the train would pass. I never understood how they could sleep with the loud roar of the train just 30 feet from their bedroom window. I guess you get used to it after a while. They lived across the street from Selma elementary school and not too far from the cemetery the cemetery is full of history. It’s sentimental to me, as some of my family members are buried there. I had hoped I would’ve seen the cemetery in this video. It’s sad to see what’s happened to Selma.

I've driven through many cities like this in Virginia, Kentucky, and Mississippi. It's heartbreaking to see.

That was my hometown, it was beautiful when I was a child, it was full of wonderful old plantation homes, jobs, an airforce base, country churches, and the Alabama River ran through it....but hate killed Selma long ago, it's seeing the last bones crumble.....Our Beautiful USA is on the same path....same disease

Selma has been in decline since the 70s. It nosedived after Craig AFB closed in 1977 and has never recovered.

We city/suburban folk really need to go rural. Bring some wealth and opportunties to folks whoare there. Establish some principles, buy some land, grow some food start some businesses. Like we used to. I think we know what's wrong. Let's create something better.

that's a sin, so many people homeless and those homes just rotting

So sad to see neighborhoods crumble and die 😥

My grandfather had 15 children, only 4 settled in Alabama. They actually live in 0erry and Hale Counties which isn'tfar from Selma. Poverty is a real problem throughout the State. Everytime we visit we bring things and leave money. It's really a working vacation because we also fix things around the farm along with working the land.

This is the “backside” of Selma. It’s not nearly as sad in town, off of Highland Blvd, etc. There are plenty of restaurants, stores, & other businesses. Shout out to Marion & South Alabama!💛🍀 No doubt, some of the best times of my life😍

I rode through Selma, Alabama today (my hometown) and promised myself that when I become rich, which will be soon, I promise to fix Selma, Alabama up 💯‼️‼️❤️

I looked up the real estate prices in Selma and the prices are just right for young couples wanting to build a starter home or older folks on fixed incomes could retire decently down there. The place has huge potential but your local politicians need to fight for some funding to bring that area back. If the schools were better, business might be tempted to relocate and bring back jobs. Really nice place that needs some TLC.

My mom and dad were born here. Raised at Ebenezer Baptist Church under the late Dr. Rev. Reese. Who personally invited Dr. King to lead a peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery. My dad marched on Bloody Sunday. I visit Selma very often. Most of my family still lives there. The movie Selma was filmed there so I ask? Where did all that money go? Why is history being torn down like this. It literally brings tears to my eyes. Lord Selma 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

As someone from Alabama this is not only sad but embarrassing .. How come no one has a real desire to change this ... Be it the homeowners themselves the landlords or the government ....

As a viewer from Australia I think although it looks rundown and poverty stricken it still looks tidier and more friendly than some areas of the major cities.Maybe its just the trees and greenery,but also there aren’t desperate people just standing around,or laying around.you can’t help being poor but you can help being clean and tidy.

👩🏻‍💻I just have to add, watching your video was like walking to and from school every day. The sidewalks, the ditches, how the street comes right up to the grass. Deja vu big time. Thanks. The past couples of weeks has been hard on my health. Thanks for reminding me of a time when I was young and strong.🙋‍♀️

Thank for this video & the filming. Selma spoke for itself. So,so, sad.

I always loved these shotgun houses. I lived in one, when I first got out on my own, and it was a perfect place for me.

thanks for another eye opener. it is sad to see the decline of a city and selma does seem to be in decline. yet, it is good to see some ppl choose to stay and look after their properties

OMG , amazing homes abandoned, and people are homeless in LA

What happened is that base was removed. I have been in and out of Selma as a kid as my father ran a business there. We lived in another city and visited during tax season

If I was to become a billionaire I would build up some small towns and renovate houses and make living affordable..these rural towns just need someone to care...I grew up in rural Va..

A tornado came right through the center of town and left a "mile wide path of devastation". It's pretty much been wiped out.

I like that you are now providing commentary. That’s a great addition to the show. Thank you😀😀😀

We lived in one of these in Arkansas & it was 6 people 4 children, mom, & dad. Survived it. No jobs means more places will look like this before long.

I moved from Colorado to Alabama and am shocked by the widespread poverty.

I grew up in places like this, but to see whats happening now is heart breaking, drugs and internet ruined motivation, people just dont care about these areas, and the people still there, the government is not the answer, just need clear heads and a want to do and make it on there own again, like life used to be.It was tough but anything good and wholesme is tough to acheive.

There was an air force base here and when the gpverment closed it the town just went down down.Used to be a thriving town.

I’m from Selma born and raised some of the areas was shown and houses we lived in are burned down or abandoned Selma didn’t look like that when we stay in those houses smh the city has let Selma go down bad

There's towns like this across the country I know, but, Selma, after hearing so much about it, the importance of things that happened there, I didn't expect it to be so...forgotten. it's more than sad, it's wrong. But I have no idea who to blame, if anyone.

I see lots of potential. Beautiful little area. Lots of mature trees.

Our nation is facing a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of this country

I was born in Alabams and attended junior college at Selma University which is a Baptist college. It was in 1969 through 1971. It is a very historic place for the civil rights movement. I am surprised to see how this town has gone down. You did not show the university.

I live in south Mississippi, it looks like that here in places. It's extreme poverty. Heartbreaking.

Another heartbreaking video. Thank you for sharing these images. Very powerful, especially without narration.

I'm from that surrounding area... Marion Al... it went down hill after they stopped the reenactments... years ago. Selma used to be a wonderful place, but look at it now...

I drove through Selma in the 90s. It was clean and kept up still.😢

Priorities? $1500 car, $3000 rims and a tarp on the roof!

I like to explore Alabama on my bike ....a UPS employee told me to stay away from Selma he used to deliver there ....I'm glad I took his advice

How I wish to visit this place and see some history. It's sad all is quiet and most of the streets are empty,buildings deserted. Sad.

I grew up in Montgomery, and I remember when Selma was a thriving place. I was going to go to Nursing school there in 81.

R.L. Zeigler is still manufacturing delicious meat products proudly in Selma, AL. (address, 1 Plant St.)

Just started discovering so much about America’s “lost cities” through this channel. Sad, sad stories… With almost all the structures like this in Selma, there was no chance for them to withstand the recent tornado. Was there?

There are cities all over America that suffered the same plight that got run over by the economy. Couldn't react fast enough to changing times.

👩🏻‍💻This looks like the little town I grew up in in Utah, west of Salt Lake City. Being born and raised there and my great-grandfather helped settle the town, I loved living there and even now the homes are on the line of what you see in the video. Some are kept up others need help. Like others have said create a reason to be there. That's what my little hometown did and now it is where I go to get my KFC, it take 10 minutes to drive there, the lines are shorter out there and I like to do my grocery shopping and fast foods there because I am giving back to a place that gave me so much, I even plan on being buried there in the pioneer cemetery. Thanks for your video. Much love and peace. 🙋‍♀️🪔🌠🐞🥰&♎🇺🇲🇬🇧

Seeing this badly neglected neighborhood's all across America tells you everything about our gooberment.

Man I went to Selma University for a year in 1993 . I was from the Bronx , I swear there were beautiful homes all through the town . 1501 Lapsley St . Never forget going across The Edmond Pettis bridge on a regular

Some rich cooperations will buy this area up and in a year most of those houses will be going for Half a million dollars, this is all someone’s plan to buy the area cheap.

🙏 for the people of Selma, after the tornado.

Eversince I was a child I've always dream of going to some other countries...But sad to say I couldn't afford then for reality hit me that I am only poor...I so loved watching cartoons, Hollywood movies, actor and actresses, singers mostly americans... As I grow up and became adult everytime I looked and watched videos like this well, I can say to myself I'd rather be poor still living in my country the Phils. than living a place like this where you can only hear the silence of the surroundings... The houses that are so sad and unbrightly faded by its beauty... You can't be sure enough if you'll be safe the next day...

I'm not far from that town and Selma has always not had many people there.. no jobs so they left everything and moved

So sad to see but thank you I love watching the videos u make.

I don't know why but I love this town and your video! Thank you! 🙏🏻

It is heart wrenching to see these conditions children have to grow up in. It is so scary.

Used to be a military installation there which employed many residents and brought economics to them too. Rain AFB closed in early 70s.

The Government closing the nearby Air Force Base did help any.

I visited Selma several times as a child. Most of my dad’s relatives lived there. They lived close to the train trussel & cigar factory. I am assuming the cigar factory is no longer in operation either? Very, very, sad 😔

My home town,can’t wait to go to my grandma house on thanksgiving 😂😂🤝

When the first family started to moving out, the remaining feels sad to loose some neighborhood, and when come to the last one to leave, the feeling of the end of the world comes along... what a sad story.

My grandma sister died in a house fire in Selma (Auntie Dorothy Aka Dot). Shoutout to the Edwards family in Selma Alabama

I had business in Selma a few years back at a plastic injection plant there… I was shocked to see how bad it is there. The civil rights movement may have started there, but it left the town, never to return. I would imagine that the wages they pay the employees there were minimum wage, what else are you going to do there, it pays better than farming. I wanted to show my kids the Pettis bridge but the place is so bad I changed my mind. The gas station by the bridge gets robbed so much there is a sign on the door that says: “ All hoodies must be removed before entering “ Really a town getting reclaimed by nature and neglect.

When I see some of these dilapidated homes, it makes me sad to think all this was new at one time and this was someone’s American Dream, but no more.

It was better when I was there at Craig AFB in the 60’s. I read somewhere that it really hurt the town when the base closed I think in the 70’s?

I've run the highway that runs from I-65 over through Selma and on into Mississippi and Selma has been defunct ever since I first went through it in the early nineties, and looked like it had already been that way for awhile.

all the blue collar jobs that could support a family are gone-those little shot gun houses are snug and inexpensive when they are kept up but it takes a job to keep a home- I notice the housing projects are fairly new but there is something about your own home,no matter how humble that makes life better-this is sad

If those shotgun houses have landlords or slumlords then they need to be held accountable for conditions of these houses...

It's amazing, despite the apparent poverty, nearly everyone is able to put aftermarket wheels on their whip.

We are from Brasil 🇧🇷 Estamos te acompanhando. Sucesso pra ti.

Well that was depressing 😬

This is called East Selma, and it looked like this in the 50s but clean and respectable then, before integration ! Selma is a town rich in history and prestige, but when the spectacle of the mid 60s came about, we all left for the coast !!!

This isn't a one-solution-fixes-it-all type of problem. You'd have to focus on several things in order to bring it back. I would love to see it flourish though. Coming from a "city" up north the first thing I loved about it was how country it is. And quiet...I'd love the quiet

Não sabia que existiam cidades assim nos EUA, parece abandonada.

And here we city folks are, practically living on top of one another, when there’s all of this space and opportunity in other parts of the US, too scared to give up our abundance of amenities and comfort where we currently reside… I was in St Louis last week. There’s a very large area that’s dilapidated and practically abandoned. Big, beautiful brick homes (some look like mansions) left to rot. Lots of industrial buildings/spaces completely empty and falling apart. It’s so sad to see.

Thankyou God for Not Causing Me to Live in such Sad Places! Bless these Poor Souls! 🙏

I remember the shotgun homes from Memphis North Memphis that is only these places have a lot more yard between the houses. I used to live just a little ways down the river from Selma on an island in the Alabama River one of the nicer places I've lived in my life

I'm in Illinois, we have some of the town, just like that. Sad looking but it's part of life.

It’s so weird to see people living in houses wedged in-between boarded up houses or houses that have burned. Lots of nice cars too. If that’s as far as you can see your life going that you drop your money into a car rather than fixing your property or moving away…well, to each their own. When people feel trapped, I imagine it can be very hard & immediate gratification (like spiffing up a car) could make you feel good for a bit. The whole thing is so sad.

This town reminds me of a lot of places In my home state of Arkansas like pine bluff and parts of Little Rock etc tons of history💜

I was born at Vaughan Memorial in Selma. It's not just Selma that's declining, it's the whole state of Alabama. The state economy is in a horrific state, there's no production or great exports, not enough tourism, and they still refuse to vote to utilize the lottery. The health care is terrible and there is almost zero mental health care. There's no hope for Alabama the once-beautiful.

Oh what a place it’s real country thanks for the tour

Someone is keeping the lawns mowed!?

Very beautiful video of a never known , never seen distant land (though it belongs to our earth ..)..beautiful unknown trees and flowers and bushes ...imagine living in one of those houses ...imagine how lonely I would feel amidst bright sunshine ...solitude would disturb me ...

It's not a stretch to understand why this town has been abandoned.

One thing is for sure there’s never any complaints there about noisy neighbours there

It's a really nice area you can tell it was well kept at one time! It looked to be each home had their own personal touch definitely an area worth restoring! I know some contractors that by city blocks of row homes in Baltimore and restore them brings life to the community if there is any hope

Glad this video was made. I was born and raised in Selma.

I bet those abandon walls can talk!

This is simply both , sad and encouraging. The sad part is its current condition, the encouraging part is the potential for a whole new work or a whole new town to be rebuilt. I so much wish I had the financial resources to invest out there . If any of you reading can do something about this, please, count me in to help in anyway I can . I have the will although not the money 🙏🏽

That's so sad. We need to keep jobs in the USA before more towns look like this.

Olá....libere as legendas para que possamos traduzí-las

Never give up no matter wat lets learn to appreciate and move on

Parece que a cidade hoje é fantasma abandonada mas é um local lindo lindo lindo lindo lindo

Sad,sad to see homes going to waste when we have so much homelessness. Some of the rich with money to waste could go to these neighborhoods and restore homes for the needy. It's a forgotten town.

This is where the civil rights march across the bridge happened.March to Montgomery started