Alabama Black Belt
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The Alabama Black Belt refers to a crescent-shaped region in the United States of America stretching from Texas to Virginia and including Alabama. Originally named for the color of its dark, rich soil, it was also the part of the South where slavery was most profitable, and therefore where slave numbers were highest. Thus the term Black Belt acquired its dual reference to the quality of the land and to extensive slavery.
The Black Belt takes on many names and meanings in the United States. Known as The Black Belt rich soils stretch from Georgia across Alabama and Mississippi. The soil is very rich and underlain by limestone known as Selma chalk. It has been described as being home to “the richest soil and the poorest people.”
The term Black Belt has also been designated to counties where black people outnumber the white. Over half of the population in the Black Belt is African American. The Black Belt Region also refers to the area of 623 southern counties that have this higher African American percentage. They form a belt like pattern through Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Sometimes, it is called the “Blue Belt,” because it has such a high concentration of Democratic support. The counties are also characterized by rural decline, poor education systems and problems with poverty, health, housing, and underemployment.
When white people entered the region in 1816, their suspicion of the darker soil kept them from settling. It was not until the 1830s that whites forced out the Choctaws and Chickasaws and began settling. It became a major cotton plantation region. During the Civil War, it was untouched by the Northern armies and helped supply food to Confederate soldiers. In the middle of the 20th century, Chicago used the term “Black Belt of Chicago,” to describe an area of Chicago where mostly African Americans lived. The community was actually built for African Americans because the white people did not want any intermingling.