Black Belt (region of Alabama)
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Alabama's Black Belt is a region of the state, part of the larger Black Belt Region of the Southern United States, which stretches from Texas to Virginia. This region includes some of the poorest counties in the United States. The name referred originally to the thin layer of exceptionally fertile black soil which encouraged cotton farming in the pioneer period of Alabama history. It may just as well now refer to the exceptionally high proportion of African American residents in these counties.
- Major characteristics of Black Belt counties include:
- Rich, dark loamy soil underlain by a soft limestone known as Selma chalk.
- Primary industry remains agriculture with little industrial or commercial development
- Proportionally large African American population
- High unemployment rate
- Low rates of educational attainment
- Isolated from major transportation infrastructure
- Limited access to health care
- Substandard housing stock
In Alabama, the heart of the Black Belt is centered in western part of the state between the Appalachian foothills and the coastal plain. The list of counties comprising the Black Belt is often dependent on the context but traditionally includes Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Crenshaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Russell, Sumter, and Wilcox.
Sometimes the region is extended into the southern coastal plain to include Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Monroe, and Washington Counties. Though Montgomery County meets both the soil and demographic traits of the Black Belt. it is often excluded because of its significant urban development. Lamar does not meet the soil traits but is often included due to its lack of enterprise.
In recent electoral maps, the Black Belt has appeared as a "Blue Belt" because of its strong support for the Democratic Party. With the exception of parts of the city of Birmingham, the outline of Alabama's Seventh Congressional District roughly matches the Black Belt region. Artur Davis currently represents that district in the United States House of Representatives.
[edit] References
- Tullos, Allen. "The Black Belt" Southern Spaces, (April 19, 2004)
- Rogers, William Warren, and Robert David Ward, Leah Rawls Atkins, and Wayne Flynt. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8173-0714-1
[edit] External links
- Map of Traditional Counties of the Alabama Black Belt at the University of Alabama Center for Business and Economic Research.
- Birmingham News special report on Alabama's Black Belt
- Congressional Home Page of Artur Davis (with District Map)
- Black Belt Fact Book from the Institute for Rural Health Research
