WALB is working to produce a video for this story. In the meantime, we encourage you to watch our livestream.

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) – Along with other Gray Media stations across the country, we are celebrating our country’s 250th birthday, which happens on July 4, 2026. All year, we’ll be telling the stories on the history of South Georgia in a segment called “We The People”.

We’re focusing on the Black Belt region, which once referred to the rich, black soil that’s perfect for growing crops like cotton.

Over time, the Black Belt came to represent the counties that are predominantly populated by African Americans.

There are roughly 200 predominantly Black counties or parishes in the country; 19 of them are in Georgia, including Dougherty County, which is 70 percent Black. Local historians say that a high percentage can be traced back to the black men and women who helped lead South Georgia to agricultural dominance during the years of slavery.

“So the term now is more geared toward the rich soil, which is still good for growing cotton, tobacco and different things like that. Rather, it’s generated more toward the culture because of the deep, rich population of African Americans and people of color in this particular area. So that’s how the Black Belt has stuck in that way,” Angie Jones, Chairman of the Historic Preservation Commission, said.

The Black Belt is comprised of several states, mainly those in the Southeast, including Georgia. Because cotton farming requires strenuous labor, tobacco planters in Virginia brought enslaved black people to work the cotton fields in Southwest Georgia.

“Most of the economic base was generated through the huge populations of slavery. The Flint River was where the cotton was transported, Jones said.

“Because of the climate that’s here, it was easy to produce it here, and it was able to go not just to keep it local but going across the ocean,” Daniella Patterson, Thronateeska Archives Manager, said.

The Flint River became like a highway for transporting goods —not only to other states but to Liverpool in the United Kingdom. At the time, this put Albany on the map as the top cotton producer in the nation and around the world.

“Because of the Flint River, we were able to get product down the river. It was the main source of transport before the trains got to South Georgia, and they go hand in hand. You want to get the product out so that way you can produce more revenue, and so Albany is kind of strategic. A strategic location to where you were able to use that river to get the product out further, ” Patterson said.

Later on, as Black people were freed from slavery, many stayed in the area. Today, Albany still has one of the highest percentages of black residents in the state. The history of the Black Belt helped cement South Georgia as an agricultural leader in the country.

“When W.E.B. Du Bois wrote his book, he declared this area, because of the heavy population of slavery, to be the Black Belt, the Egypt of the South,” Jones said.

“It played a huge part in the development of the civilization,” Patterson said.

Over time, many formerly enslaved people stayed in South Georgia, and many became sharecroppers. But very few became independent farmers because of systemic and financial barriers. Many who stayed in the Black Belt went on to pay another price – the sacrifices and struggles for civil rights and equality.

Have a news tip or see an error that needs correction? Let us know. Please include the article’s headline in your message.

To stay up to date on all the latest news as it develops, follow WALB on Facebook and X (Twitter). For more South Georgia news, download the WALB News app from the Apple Store or Google Play.

Copyright 2025 WALB. All rights reserved.