On Defining the Alabama Black Belt: Historical Changes and Variations

The term "Black Belt" has been in use in Alabama for over a century. While there is general recognition of where the core of the state's Black Belt is located in central and west-central Alabama, there is little agreement on the region's geographic extent for its being so named. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the origin and historic progression of changing definitions of the Alabama Black Belt. This paper concludes that the term Black Belt was first applied to Alabama in the late 19th century with respect to the physical, most often soil, characteristics of the region. By the early 20th century the term was also commonly associated with the region's large African-American population. By the mid-20th century the term Black Belt was frequently employed with respect to the region's people, soil, and culture.