The Negro's Agricultural Opportunity 6i 



of slaves were necessary. In 1860 the average slave-holding 

 of the Coast section was 20, while the average for the rest 

 of the State was 11. Emancipation, of course, brought the 

 greatest disorganization to this region. 3 



After emancipation, the planters without capital were un- 

 able to hold the ex-slaves in such large gangs. Some 

 Negroes departed and took up holdings in the counties 

 just westward where wild land was plentiful and the value 

 of the rice land was so reduced that many of those remain- 

 ing were able to buy parts of their original plantation in 

 small tracts. Conditions in Mcintosh and Liberty, two 

 typical counties in this region, are shown below : 4 



TABLE 6. 



Landholdings in 1903. 



Mcintosh Liberty Decatur Mitchell 



County County County County 



Negro Holdings — 



Number 692 1,134 647 144 



Acres Owned... 13,854 48,675 50,930 22,249 



Average Acreage 20 43 77 155 



White Holdings — 



Number 237 861 1,824 955 



Acres Owned... 55,728 307,351 590,772 300,215 



Average Acreage 235 357 324 314 



It is evident that in this region a few white owners re- 

 tain the greater portion of the land, but a large number of 

 small tracts have been taken up by Negroes. 



Somewhat the same situation is found in the southwestern 

 corner of the Black Belt, as is illustrated by Decatur and 

 Mitchell counties in the above table. 



It appears that in these counties the Negro has acquired 

 a large number of small holdings. Neither in number, nor 



3 Brooks, R. P., Agrarian Revolution, opp. cite, p. 110-111; 

 Banks, E. M., Economics of Land Tenure, opp. cite, p. 65; 

 Leigh, F. B., Ten Years on a Georgia Plantation Since the 

 War. London, Richard Bentley & Son, 1883, pp. 263.264. 



4 Banks, Economics of Land Tenure, Appendix, Table A. 



