 More recently, Hale County has become the home of the nationally recognized Auburn University Rural Studio, an architectural outreach program founded by architect and artist Samuel Mockbee and D. K. Ruth.It is also the birthplace of Eugene Sawyer, the second African American mayor of Chicago.In 2019 the film "Hale County This Morning, This Evening" by artist RaMell Ross was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, poetically addressing the region's shift in demographics and the power of intra-community authorship.