the
State of Alabama. This is a much-used term; it is not applicable,
however, to every Southern State, neither does it apply to every county
in any one State. It is only to certain counties in certain States to
which it may properly be applied. Wilcox and the seven adjoining
counties constitute one of these sections in Alabama. The latest census
shows that these eight counties have a colored population of 201,539,
and a white population of 69,915.

Alabama has sixty-seven counties, with a total colored population of
827,307. Thus it will be seen that one-eighth of the counties contain
one-fourth of the entire colored population. Because the colored people
outnumber the white people in such great proportion, this is called the
"Black Belt" of the State. These counties lie in the valley of the
Alabama River, and constitute the most fertile section of the State.

During the early settlement of the State, white men coming into these
fertile counties not only would settle as much land as a family of four
or five in number could cultivate, but as much as they were able to buy
Negroes to cultivate. Quite a few families with only five or six in
number would have land enough to work from 100 to 1,000 Negroes. One can
see from this how a few white families would, as they often did, own a
whole county. Now the Negro is not migratory in his nature; having been
brought to these counties during slavery, he has remained here in
freedom. He is not, therefore, primarily responsible for his being here
in such great numbers. These white families settled in little villages
seven or eight miles apart. The distances between were made up of their
plantations, on which were thousands of slaves. Only a few Negroes were
employed as domestics in comparison with the great numbers who worked on
plantations. It was only these few who, in learning to serve the white
man, properly got a glimpse of real home life. The masses had absolutely
no idea of such a life; nothing was done that would lead them to secure
any such knowledge.

Since their emancipation the masses of these people have had neither
competent preachers nor teachers; consequently most of them have
remained hopelessly ignorant even until this day. One hearing the great
condemnation heaped upon the Negro in these sections for his failure to
measure up to the standards of true citizenship and to proper standards
of life would get the idea that the proud Anglo-Saxon has spent a great
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