Last month, during a previous Did you know, our organization told you about the Sun Belt, a term used to describe the group of states comprising, roughly, the southernmost third of the United States. Today, LEC is set to introduce you to another famous belt, just in time for your upcoming teen language study trip to the USA: a closer look at the Black Belt.
What does the term "Black Belt" refer to?
The Black Belt sert à désigner une autre région du sud des Etats-Unis, concentrée, cette fois, sur l’est du pays. L’épithète black, cette ceinture la doit au pourcentage élevé d’Afro-Américains y résidant. Plus précisément, on classe volontiers dans cette zone du pays de l’Oncle Sam, quelques 600 comtés, répartis eux-mêmes dans 13 Etats :
- Texas
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Arkansas
- Tennessee
- Florida
- the Mississippi
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Maryland
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Virginia
An expression originally used to describe the soil in certain southern regions
Originally, and as you may have the opportunity to learn during a language study program for teens in the U.S., the term “Black Belt” has nothing to do with ethnicity: it simply describes the dark-colored limestone soil of the prairies in central Alabama and northeastern Mississippi.
The Legacy of the Civil War
However, the term has since been adopted by both historians and sociologists. The Black Belt has become the legacy of those southern regions where plantations were established in great numbers; yet, in the context of American history, plantations inevitably bring to mind Black slaves. After the Civil War ended, these freed slaves remained in the same region. This is how this expression—now familiar to everyone—came into being and, above all, evolved.