mile in 1860, and 39.2 in 1900. In the
northern district an opposite condition exists. In 1860 the region
embracing the counties of Lauderdale, Limestone, Franklin, Colbert,
Lawrence and Morgan had a colored population forming 44.5 per cent of
the total. In 1900 the Negroes were but 33 per cent of the total. The
district contains some 4,609 square miles, and had in 1860 a Negro
population of 11 to the square mile; in 1900, 13.5. Of this increase of
2.5 per mile, about one-half is found to be in the four towns of the
district whose population is over 2,500 each. The smaller villages would
probably account for most of the balance, so it seems safe to say that
the farming population has scarcely increased in the last forty years.
Meantime the whites in the district have increased from 12 per square
mile to 25.4. The census shows that between 1890 and 1900 six counties
of North Alabama lost in the actual Negro population, and two others
were stationary, while in the black belt the whites decreased in four
counties and were stationary in two. It will be seen that the Negroes
have gained in Jefferson (Birmingham) and Talladega counties. The
opportunities for unskilled labor account largely for this, and
Talladega is also a good cotton county. In Winston and Cullman counties
there are practically no Negroes, the census showing but 28 in the two.
In 1860 they formed 3 per cent of the total in Winston and 6 percent in
Blount, which at that time included Cullman. The explanation of their
disappearance is found in the fact that since the war these counties
have been settled by Germans from about Cincinnati, and the Negroes have
found it convenient to move. Roughly speaking, the poor land of the Sand
Hills separates the white farmers from the colored. From 1890 to 1900
the Negroes lost relatively in the Metamorphic and Sand Hills, were
about stationary in the Prairie, from which they have overflowed and
gained in the Oak Hills, and more heavily in the Pine Hills. This
statement is based on an examination of five or six counties, lying
almost wholly within each of the districts, and which, so far as known,
were not affected by the development of any special industry. The period
is too short to do more than indicate that the separation of the two
races seems to be still going on. A similar separation exists in
Mississippi, where the Negroes hold the Black Prairie and the Delta, the
whites the hill country of the center.

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