The disproportionate impacts of pollution are perhaps best illustrated by rates of asthma, a potentially life-threatening respiratory illness associated with poor air quality. The southern part of North Charleston, which is predominantly made up of Black communities, has been heavily affected by this pollution. But imports and the goods produced at factories are quickly loaded onto diesel trucks and trains and shipped far away - taking the economic prosperity elsewhere and leaving residents to bear the brunt of the pollution from industrial activities and transportation. The 1970s brought more ships and imported goods to North Charleston than ever before and, with those, the prospect of greater economic development. North Charleston is now a busy port city dominated by manufacturing and business sites. Rice and indigo plantations were dismantled after the Civil War, and a midsized town took their place.

In a world bustling with human activity, no place stays the same for long, including the city of North Charleston, South Carolina, situated slightly upriver from the coast.

Green dragon north charleston sc