The crescent-shaped region known as the Black Belt stretches
from Texas to Virginia. As noted by Arthur Raper in his 1936
study Preface to Peasantry, this region historically has
been home to “the richest soil and the poorest people” in
the United States. In his autobiographical work Up from
Slavery, Dr. Booker T. Washington observed that he had
"often been asked to define the term ‘Black Belt.’ So far as
I can learn," he wrote:
the term was first used to designate a part of the
country which was distinguished by the colour of the soil.
The part of the country possessing this thick, dark, and
naturally rich soil was, of course, the part of the South
where the slaves were most profitable, and consequently
they were taken there in the largest numbers. Later and
especially since the war, the term seems to be used wholly
in a political sense—that is, to designate the counties
where the black people outnumber the white. (Washington,
1965, p.68)
In the roughly two hundred counties comprising today’s
Black Belt, over half the population is African-American.
The Alabama Black Belt extends from Mississippi's border
through the heart of the state. From DeSoto’s meeting with
Tuskaloosa to the birth of the Confederacy and the civil
rights struggles of the mid-twentieth century, it was here
that some of some of Alabama's most significant historical
events occurred. It is an area rich in cultural traditions
and the strength of its people. Unfortunately, however, it
is also an area in dire need, confronted with economic
stagnation, declining population, and insufficient health
care and schools.
