A DIFFERENT TYPE OF BLACK BELT

The Black Belt was a region located in the Southern United States. The term ‘Black Belt’ was initially used to define the prairies/ the productive black soils found in Central Alabama and Northeast of Mississippi. Another meaning of the term Black Belt was a region that had the vast majority of the African American population as a result of the institution of slavery in the southern states. Since these areas were prime for slave labor and the cultivation of mostly cotton, the two became synonymous in the region. The Black Belt was one of the wealthiest and most politically powerful regions in the United States, and its business elevated cities like Montgomery, Selma, and Demopolis into some of the most prosperous towns in the nation.

Later on, the term ‘Black Belt’ was used to apply to a much larger agricultural zone in the South that was mainly characterized by the long cotton history around the 19th Century. A significant number of African American populations also resided outside their metropolitan areas. After the American Civil War, the enslaved African Americans were freed; however, many continued to toil on these Southern lands as they made it home. The Alabama Black Belt was part of a national Black Belt that stretches from Texas to Virginia.