Where we are in the world
The Black Belt is a physical geography for the crescent shaped pattern that spreads throughout the US states of Alabama and Mississippi. If you look at the Google Map linked below, you can see that the region is lighter in color than the darker forested area around the crescent. This region has geological roots back millions of years ago, which can explain some of the socio-economic trends in the region as well.
For other maps on physical geography, see posts on Lake Balkash in Kazakhstan and Rabaul in Papua New Guinea!
The above Wikipedia post refers to the geological region – for the post on the socio-economic region, click here.
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts about this map
The Black Belt has fertile soil compared to the areas around it due to its history as a shallow sea
Originally, the region was deemed “Black Belt” due to its rich, dark soil which made for fertile farming throughout the region. During the Cretaceous period (145 – 66 million years ago), the region was covered by a shallow sea with tiny plankton. Their skeletons accumulated into large formations that eventually became fertile soil along a large arc/crescent that represented the ancient shore of this sea. The fertile soil of the Black Belt originates from this geological phenomenon, and is why you can see the clear shoreline on a map.
Black Americans are the majority population along the Black Belt
The term “Black Belt” took a different meaning during the period of slavery in the US. Because of the fertile soil, the region was home to large plantations for crops, particularly cotton. During the 1700s and 1800s these plantations enslaved Black populations to be farmhands – in the 1820s and 1830s, the region was home to half of Alabama’s enslaved population.
This population remained in the area even after the Civil War which abolished slavery, and is still home to a very high % of Black Americans. In fact, a large portion of the region is majority black – approximately 14 counties (in AL and MS) out of about 100 total majority Black counties in the entire US.
The Black Belt can bee seen on election result maps to this day
Due to its large Black population and oppressive history, the Black Belt is also the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement. Montgomery, the largest city in the region, was the site of the Selma Marches in 1965 to push for the enfranchisement of Black Americans.
The political views of the population largely align with the Democratic party, which can be seen in voting maps today where counties along the Black Belt, which are also largely majority Black, tend to vote Democrat compared to the rest of Alabama and Mississippi.
In the below image, you can see the results of the 2020 US presidential election by county in Alabama and Mississippi, with the rough area of the Black Belt shown above clearly noting the Democratic skew of the region.
Additional links and sources
- Article on the geological features of the region (link)
- Short article on Alabama’s Black Belt counties (link)
- Election results from the 2020 presidential election (link for Alabama, link for Mississippi)
Have you heard of the Black Belt region before?
See other places around the world Globe Charting has featured!
