20 Negro Migration 



mont section, a rugged region, with excellent climate and 

 land adapted to the raising of a great variety of farm crops, 

 fruits, and cattle. Contrary to the usual impression that 

 the whole South was divided into large plantations before 

 1860, this section is, and always has been, the home of small 

 farmers. Its soil did not make the large scale production of 

 cotton as profitable as did the lands of the Black Belt. Con- 

 sequently, slavery was not highly developed in the Upper 

 Piedmont. The slaves owned were in small groups, rang- 

 ing from 1 to 10 per owner, and in many cases the owner 

 and slave worked side by side in tilling the land, whereas 

 in the Black Belt the owner of the baronial estate was sep- 

 arated from slaves by managers and overseers. 



The next area extending along the coast and arching 

 across the State in the shape of a broad horse-shoe, con- 

 stitutes what is commonly known as the Black Belt, in which 

 the population is over 50 per cent Negro. This includes the 

 Lower Piedmont region and extends south of the fall line 

 of rivers into the Upper Coast Plain, stretching down the 

 Savannah River to the East and the Chattahoochee to the 

 South. In this section Negroes are found in overwhelming 

 numbers in the open country. The county towns contain 

 the white county officers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and 

 many of the landlords. Even in many of the towns of the 

 Black Belt, however, the Negroes outnumber the white peo- 

 ple. The coastal Black Belt is slightly different from the 

 central Black Belt in that, originally this area was the rice 

 and sea-island cotton area, and was divided into even larger 

 plantations than the upland cotton area. Inclosed in the 

 curve of the Black Belt is the region known as "Wiregrass." 

 The counties of this region contain a Negro population 

 which ranges from 25 to 50 per cent of the total. This is 

 the level Coastal Plain with but slight elevation above the 

 sea. The open country is occupied by both white and Negro 

 farmers. The "Wiregrass," sparsely populated at the close 



