73 ] LANDOWNERSHIP AMONG THE NEGROES 73 



than the former — a fact explaining the decrease in aver- 

 age size. 



The greatest increase has been in the number of those 

 possessing less than twenty acres each. In 1902 forty- 

 one per cent of the negro landowners held plots contain- 

 ing less than twenty acres, and in two-thirds of these 

 plots the acreage was less than ten. On the other 

 extreme it is found that only slightly over one per cent 

 •of the negro owners possess over five hundred acres 

 each. Again, nearly one-half of the negro owners hold 

 between twenty and one hundred and seventy-five acres. 

 The most interesting of all the groups, as perhaps repre- 

 senting an ideal proprietorship, is the one embracing 

 holdings ranging in size from twenty to fifty acres. In 

 the classification adopted more negro landowners are 

 found in this than in any other group. It contains about 

 one-fifth of the total negro proprietors in the state. 



It is now in order to point out the real significance of 

 the above showing, touching negro landownership in i^s 

 relation to the total acreage of the state. In 1903 ther 

 were 18,700 negroes owning land in Georgia, 1 that is to 

 say, less than two per cent of the negroes held titles to 

 farms. To be more exact, the figures indicate that only 

 one negro in every fifty-five owns a farm, or only one 

 holding in every six or seven is in possession of a negro. 

 This is certainly no flattering showing for more than a 

 generation's development, especially when it is remem- 

 bered that forty-one per cent of these holdings contain 

 less than twenty acres each. 



A consideration of the total number of acres owned by 

 the negroes in relation to the total acreage of the state 

 but serves to emphasize the same fact. In 1903 the 



1 Cf. Appendix, infra. 



