African American farmers -- Southern States; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Southern States
Tennessee and some of the limestone district of Kentucky. It is worth
while to examine one state more in detail and Alabama has been selected
as being typical. The Negro proportion in the state in 1860 was 45.4 per
cent, and in 1900 was 45.2 per cent.
An examination of a proportionate map for 1860 would show that the slave
owners found two parts of the state favorable to them. The first is
along the Tennessee river in the North, and the second, the black
prairie of the center. Of these the latter was by far the seat of the
heavier population. It has already been suggested that this was probably
the best land in the slave states, save the alluvial bottoms. Both
districts were accessible by water. The Tombigbee and Alabama rivers
reached all parts of the prairie, the Tennessee forming the natural
outlet of the North. By referring now to the map of 1900, it is evident
that some changes have taken place. The prairie country, the "Black
Belt," is still in the possession of the Negroes, and their percentage
is larger, having increased from 71 to 80. The population per square
mile is also heavier. Dallas, Sumter and Lowndes counties had a Negro
population of 23.6 per square mile in 1860, and 39.2 in 1900. In the
northern district an opposite condition exists. In 1860 the region
embracing the counties of Lauderdale, Limestone, Franklin, Colbert,
Lawrence and Morgan had a colored population forming 44.5 per cent of
the total. In 1900 the Negroes were but 33 per cent of the total. The
district contains some 4,609 square miles, and had in 1860 a Negro
population of 11 to the square mile; in 1900, 13.5. Of this increase of
2.5 per mile, about one-half is found to be in the four towns of the
district whose population is over 2,500 each. The smaller villages would
probably account for most of the balance, so it seems safe to say that
the farming population has scarcely increased in the last forty years.
Meantime the whites in the district have increased from 12 per square
mile to 25.4. The census shows that between 1890 and 1900 six counties
of North Alabama lost in the actual Negro population, and two others
were stationary, while in the black belt the whites decreased in four
counties and were stationary in two. It will be seen that the Negroes
have gained in Jefferson (Birmingham) and Talladega counties. The
opportunities for unskilled labor account largely for this, and
Talladega is also a good cotton county. In Winston and Cullman counties
there are practically no Negroes, the census showing but 28 in the two.
In 1860 they formed 3 per cent of the total in Winston and 6 percent in
Blount, which at that time included Cullman. The explanation of their
disappearance is found in the fact that since the war these counties
have been settled by Germans from about Cincinnati, and the Negroes have
found it convenient to move. Roughly speaking, the poor land of the Sand
Hills separates the white farmers from the colored. From 1890 to 1900
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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