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 term "Black Belt" refers to another region in the southern United States, this time concentrated in the eastern part of the country. The term "Black Belt" derives from the high percentage of African Americans living there. More specifically, this region of the United States is generally considered to include some 600 counties, spread across 13 states:
- 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.