Black Belt & Regions

This plate reads the Black Belt in Alabama: the counties of the arc inside the state's borders, the population they hold, and the pattern they form against the state's cities.

In Georgia, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

In Mississippi, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

In South Carolina, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest…

In Louisiana, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

Its table records the first enslaved Africans in English America arrived at Point Comfort, in present-day Hampton, Virginia: 1619; Black residents of Virginia, alone or in combination…

In North Carolina, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest…

In Arkansas, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

Its table records South Florida holds the largest Haitian population in the United States: Largest Haitian Community; Black residents of Florida, alone or in combination — second only…

In Tennessee, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

In Texas, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and oldest.

Its table records Black Kentuckians live in Louisville's Jefferson County, approximately: 1 in 3; Black residents of Kentucky, alone or in combination: 420,000.

Its table records of Prince George's County is Black — the nation's most affluent majority-Black county: 64%; Black residents of Maryland, alone or in combination: 2 Million.

In Delaware, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

For Virginia, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

In Oklahoma, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

The St. Louis region holds Missouri's largest Black population: the independent City of St. Louis is more than two-fifths Black — about 130,000 people within a city of 300,000 — and…

In Illinois, the Black Belt is the oldest Black geography in the United States — the arc of dark-soil counties running from Virginia to Texas where Black settlement is deepest and…

In the South, this plate reads the region's Black distribution as a single geography, state by state and then whole.

In the South, this plate reads the region's Black concentration as a single geography, state by state and then whole.

In the South, this plate reads the region's Black movement as a single geography, state by state and then whole.

Two further figures complete the plate's account of America in the Midwest: Black residents of the United States, alone or in combination (Census Bureau population estimates): 52.8…

This plate reads the region's Black concentration as a single geography, state by state and then whole.

This plate reads the region's Black movement as a single geography, state by state and then whole.

Its table records Black residents of the Northeast, alone or in combination (sum of state counts): 8 million; Share of the national Black population: 15.2%.

In the Northeast, this plate reads the region's Black concentration as a single geography, state by state and then whole.

Two further figures complete the plate's account of America in the Northeast: Black residents of the United States, alone or in combination (Census Bureau population estimates): 52.8…

Two further figures complete the plate's account of America in the West: Black residents of the United States, alone or in combination (Census Bureau population estimates): 52.8…

In the West, this plate reads the region's Black concentration as a single geography, state by state and then whole.

How this plate is read, for America in the West: begin with the map, whose shading bands the published Black share into the legend's five classes, then turn to the table, which states…

Two further figures complete the plate's account of Texas: Black residents of Texas, alone or in combination — the largest Black population of any state: 4 Million; Texas ranks first…

Its table records Black residents of Georgia, alone or in combination: 3.6 Million; roughly one in three Georgians is Black — among the highest shares of any large state: 1 in 3.

Its table records Black residents of Florida, alone or in combination — second only to Texas among states: 3.7 Million; South Florida holds the largest Haitian population in the United…

Its table records Black residents of New York State, alone or in combination: 3.6 Million; New York's Black population ranks third among states, behind Texas and Florida: 3rd Largest.

Its table records Black share of Mississippi's population — the highest of any state: 38%; residents of Jackson, the capital, who are Black — among the highest shares of any state…

Its table records Black residents of California, alone or in combination: 2.8 Million; the Black share of California's population has declined for four decades even as the count held…

Its table records Black residents of North Carolina, alone or in combination: 2.5 Million; North Carolina holds about a dozen historically Black colleges — among the most of any state…

In Alabama, the regional series holds its geography whole; the state plates elsewhere in the atlas divide the same ground by state lines.

Its table records Black residents of South Carolina, alone or in combination: 1.45 Million; South Carolina's population was majority Black from the colonial era into the early…

Its table records Black residents of Louisiana, alone or in combination: 1.55 Million; nearly one in three Louisianans is Black — second-highest share of any large state: 1 in 3.

Its table records Black residents of Virginia, alone or in combination: 1.85 Million; the first enslaved Africans in English America arrived at Point Comfort, in present-day Hampton…

Its table records Black residents of Illinois, alone or in combination: 2 Million; East St. Louis is more than nine-tenths Black — among the highest shares of any American city: 9 in…

Its table records Black residents of Ohio, alone or in combination: 1.65 Million; Wilberforce University, the nation's oldest private HBCU, was founded in Ohio: 1856.

Its table records Black residents of Tennessee, alone or in combination: 1.25 Million; including Fisk, Tennessee State, and Meharry — Nashville's unmatched cluster: 6 HBCUs.

In Arkansas, this regional plate reads the same federal material at the scale of the region itself, and the table below carries its published measures.

Its table records Black residents of Kentucky, alone or in combination: 420,000; Black Kentuckians live in Louisville's Jefferson County, approximately: 1 in 3.

Its table records Black residents of Missouri, alone or in combination: 785,000; St. Louis and Kansas City together hold the large majority of Black Missouri: 2 Metros.

Its table records Black residents of Indiana, alone or in combination: 750,000; of Gary's residents are Black, approximately — the heaviest majority of any Indiana city: 7 in 10.

Its table records Black residents of Wisconsin, alone or in combination: 430,000; Black Wisconsinites live in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, approximately: 2 in 3.

Its table records Black residents of Maryland, alone or in combination: 2 Million; of Prince George's County is Black — the nation's most affluent majority-Black county: 64%.

Its table records Black residents of New Jersey, alone or in combination: 1.45 Million; New Jersey is the largest Black-population state with no historically Black college — its…

Its table records Black residents of Pennsylvania, alone or in combination: 1.66 Million; Cheyney and Lincoln — the nation's two oldest HBCUs — are both in Pennsylvania: 1837 & 1854.

Its table records Black residents of Michigan, alone or in combination: 1.55 Million; more than half of Black Michigan lives in the Detroit metropolitan area: Half Plus.

In Arizona, read as a region, the pattern crosses the state borders the other plates observe, and the table below fixes its measures.

Its table records Black residents of Minnesota, alone or in combination: 495,000; Minnesota holds the largest Somali population in the United States — the center of its Black immigrant…

Its table records Black residents of Colorado, alone or in combination: 285,000; Denver's historic Black district — the 'Harlem of the West' of the jazz era: Five Points.

Its table records Black residents of Connecticut, alone or in combination: 460,000; Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport — each between a third and two-fifths Black — hold the state's…

Its table records Black residents of Delaware, alone or in combination: 245,000; Delaware State University — the state's HBCU — founded as a land-grant institution: 1891.

Its table records Black residents of Oklahoma, alone or in combination: 390,000; Tulsa's historic Black district — 'Black Wall Street' — the state's defining Black place-name…

Its table records Black residents of West Virginia, alone or in combination: 90,000; West Virginia State and Bluefield State — both founded for Black students, both now enrolling…