Beyond the Marginality Thesis: The Acquisition and Loss of Land by African Americans in Georgia, 1880-1930

Agricultural History

Volumn 72, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 241-261

  Hargis, Peggy G ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AFRICAN AMERICANS; AGRICULTURAL HISTORY; CULTURAL HISTORY; HISTORICAL STUDY; LANDOWNERSHIP; NINETEENTH CENTURY; TWENTIETH CENTURY;

USA, GEORGIA;

EID: 0031765107     PISSN: 00021482     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Jeremy Atack, "The Agricultural Ladder Revisited: A New Look at an Old Question with Some Data for 1860," Agricultural History 63 (Winter 1989): 1-25; Donald Winters, "The Agricultural Ladder in Southern Agriculture: Tennessee, 1850-1870," Agricultural History 61 (Summer 1987): 36-52.
2. Jeremy Atack, "The Agricultural Ladder Revisited: A New Look at an Old Question with Some Data for 1860," Agricultural History 63 (Winter 1989): 1-25; Donald Winters, "The Agricultural Ladder in Southern Agriculture: Tennessee, 1850-1870," Agricultural History 61 (Summer 1987): 36-52.
3. County-level data for this analysis come from Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, Historical Demographic, Economic and Social Data: The United States, 1790-1970 ([Ann Arbor, Mich.]: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, 1972); and State of Georgia, Report of the Comptroller-General of the State of Georgia (Atlanta, 1874-1933). The annual reports of the Comptroller-General provide race-specific information on property holding and wealth for all years from 1874 to the mid-1960s, with the exception of 1929 and 1930 when the Comptroller-General's report did not list "colored" taxpayers separate from whites. The figures for 1930 were interpolated for this analysis using the 1928 and 1933 data.
4. County-level data for this analysis come from Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, Historical Demographic, Economic and Social Data: The United States, 1790-1970 ([Ann Arbor, Mich.]: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, 1972); and State of Georgia, Report of the Comptroller-General of the State of Georgia (Atlanta, 1874-1933). The annual reports of the Comptroller-General provide race-specific information on property holding and wealth for all years from 1874 to the mid-1960s, with the exception of 1929 and 1930 when the Comptroller-General's report did not list "colored" taxpayers separate from whites. The figures for 1930 were interpolated for this analysis using the 1928 and 1933 data.
5. Stephen DeCanio, "Accumulation and Discrimination in the Postbellum South," Explorations in Economic History 16 (January 1979): 182-206; Robert Higgs, Competition and Coercion: Blacks in the American Economy, 1865-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 64-66. The neoclassical argument assumes that even if all southern markets had functioned ly, the initial conditions of freedom (or rather, freedmen's lack of important human-capital attributes) would have been sufficient to slow blacks' progress towards ownership and financial security for decades to come. Ransom and Sutch, however, counter the neoclassical position when they conclude that it was freedmen's lack of key human-capital skills that made them so vulnerable to discrimination in the market. Roger Ransom and Richard Sutch, One Kind of Freedom: The Economic Consequences of Emancipation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977).
6. Stephen DeCanio, "Accumulation and Discrimination in the Postbellum South," Explorations in Economic History 16 (January 1979): 182-206; Robert Higgs, Competition and Coercion: Blacks in the American Economy, 1865-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 64-66. The neoclassical argument assumes that even if all southern markets had functioned ly, the initial conditions of freedom (or rather, freedmen's lack of important human-capital attributes) would have been sufficient to slow blacks' progress towards ownership and financial security for decades to come. Ransom and Sutch, however, counter the neoclassical position when they conclude that it was freedmen's lack of key human-capital skills that made them so vulnerable to discrimination in the market. Roger Ransom and Richard Sutch, One Kind of Freedom: The Economic Consequences of Emancipation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977).
7. Stephen DeCanio, "Accumulation and Discrimination in the Postbellum South," Explorations in Economic History 16 (January 1979): 182-206; Robert Higgs, Competition and Coercion: Blacks in the American Economy, 1865-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 64-66. The neoclassical argument assumes that even if all southern markets had functioned ly, the initial conditions of freedom (or rather, freedmen's lack of important human-capital attributes) would have been sufficient to slow blacks' progress towards ownership and financial security for decades to come. Ransom and Sutch, however, counter the neoclassical position when they conclude that it was freedmen's lack of key human-capital skills that made them so vulnerable to discrimination in the market. Roger Ransom and Richard Sutch, One Kind of Freedom: The Economic Consequences of Emancipation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977).
8. Charles Flynn, White Land, Black Labor: Caste and Class in Late Nineteenth-Century Georgia (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1983), 65; Carter Woodson, The Rural Negro (Washington, D.C.: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1930), 34.
9. Charles Flynn, White Land, Black Labor: Caste and Class in Late Nineteenth-Century Georgia (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1983), 65; Carter Woodson, The Rural Negro (Washington, D.C.: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1930), 34.
10. When African Americans found merchants willing to extend credit they often had to pay a higher interest rate than whites. In addition, buying on credit sometimes meant that blacks had to pay a higher purchase price for goods and land. W. J. Cash, The Mind of the South (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 152; Thomas Clark and Albert Kirwan, The South Since Appomattox (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 90-91; John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), 140; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer (Chicago: Jennings and Pye, 1903); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom, 130; C. Vann Woodward, The Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 180; Arthur Raper, Preface to Peasantry: A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936), 122; Whitelaw Reid, After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866 (1866; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 564-65.
11. When African Americans found merchants willing to extend credit they often had to pay a higher interest rate than whites. In addition, buying on credit sometimes meant that blacks had to pay a higher purchase price for goods and land. W. J. Cash, The Mind of the South (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 152; Thomas Clark and Albert Kirwan, The South Since Appomattox (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 90-91; John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), 140; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer (Chicago: Jennings and Pye, 1903); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom, 130; C. Vann Woodward, The Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 180; Arthur Raper, Preface to Peasantry: A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936), 122; Whitelaw Reid, After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866 (1866; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 564-65.
12. When African Americans found merchants willing to extend credit they often had to pay a higher interest rate than whites. In addition, buying on credit sometimes meant that blacks had to pay a higher purchase price for goods and land. W. J. Cash, The Mind of the South (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 152; Thomas Clark and Albert Kirwan, The South Since Appomattox (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 90-91; John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), 140; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer (Chicago: Jennings and Pye, 1903); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom, 130; C. Vann Woodward, The Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 180; Arthur Raper, Preface to Peasantry: A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936), 122; Whitelaw Reid, After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866 (1866; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 564-65.
13. When African Americans found merchants willing to extend credit they often had to pay a higher interest rate than whites. In addition, buying on credit sometimes meant that blacks had to pay a higher purchase price for goods and land. W. J. Cash, The Mind of the South (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 152; Thomas Clark and Albert Kirwan, The South Since Appomattox (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 90-91; John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), 140; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer (Chicago: Jennings and Pye, 1903); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom, 130; C. Vann Woodward, The Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 180; Arthur Raper, Preface to Peasantry: A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936), 122; Whitelaw Reid, After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866 (1866; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 564-65.
14. When African Americans found merchants willing to extend credit they often had to pay a higher interest rate than whites. In addition, buying on credit sometimes meant that blacks had to pay a higher purchase price for goods and land. W. J. Cash, The Mind of the South (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 152; Thomas Clark and Albert Kirwan, The South Since Appomattox (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 90-91; John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), 140; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer (Chicago: Jennings and Pye, 1903); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom, 130; C. Vann Woodward, The Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 180; Arthur Raper, Preface to Peasantry: A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936), 122; Whitelaw Reid, After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866 (1866; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 564-65.
15. When African Americans found merchants willing to extend credit they often had to pay a higher interest rate than whites. In addition, buying on credit sometimes meant that blacks had to pay a higher purchase price for goods and land. W. J. Cash, The Mind of the South (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 152; Thomas Clark and Albert Kirwan, The South Since Appomattox (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 90-91; John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), 140; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer (Chicago: Jennings and Pye, 1903); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom, 130; C. Vann Woodward, The Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 180; Arthur Raper, Preface to Peasantry: A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936), 122; Whitelaw Reid, After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866 (1866; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 564-65.
16. When African Americans found merchants willing to extend credit they often had to pay a higher interest rate than whites. In addition, buying on credit sometimes meant that blacks had to pay a higher purchase price for goods and land. W. J. Cash, The Mind of the South (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 152; Thomas Clark and Albert Kirwan, The South Since Appomattox (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 90-91; John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), 140; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer (Chicago: Jennings and Pye, 1903); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom, 130; C. Vann Woodward, The Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 180; Arthur Raper, Preface to Peasantry: A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936), 122; Whitelaw Reid, After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866 (1866; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 564-65.
17. When African Americans found merchants willing to extend credit they often had to pay a higher interest rate than whites. In addition, buying on credit sometimes meant that blacks had to pay a higher purchase price for goods and land. W. J. Cash, The Mind of the South (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 152; Thomas Clark and Albert Kirwan, The South Since Appomattox (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 90-91; John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), 140; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer (Chicago: Jennings and Pye, 1903); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom, 130; C. Vann Woodward, The Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951), 180; Arthur Raper, Preface to Peasantry: A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936), 122; Whitelaw Reid, After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866 (1866; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 564-65.
18. Earl Crosby, "Limited Success Against Long Odds: The Black County Agent," Agricultural History 57 (July 1983): 277-88; Kelsey, The Negro Farmer; Neil McMillen, Dark Journey, Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom; Woodson, The Rural Negro; Gavin Wright and Howard Kunreuther, "Cotton, Corn, and Risk in the Cotton South After the Civil War," Journal of Economic History 35 (September 1975): 526-51.
19. Earl Crosby, "Limited Success Against Long Odds: The Black County Agent," Agricultural History 57 (July 1983): 277-88; Kelsey, The Negro Farmer; Neil McMillen, Dark Journey, Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom; Woodson, The Rural Negro; Gavin Wright and Howard Kunreuther, "Cotton, Corn, and Risk in the Cotton South After the Civil War," Journal of Economic History 35 (September 1975): 526-51.
20. Earl Crosby, "Limited Success Against Long Odds: The Black County Agent," Agricultural History 57 (July 1983): 277-88; Kelsey, The Negro Farmer; Neil McMillen, Dark Journey, Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom; Woodson, The Rural Negro; Gavin Wright and Howard Kunreuther, "Cotton, Corn, and Risk in the Cotton South After the Civil War," Journal of Economic History 35 (September 1975): 526-51.
21. Earl Crosby, "Limited Success Against Long Odds: The Black County Agent," Agricultural History 57 (July 1983): 277-88; Kelsey, The Negro Farmer; Neil McMillen, Dark Journey, Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom; Woodson, The Rural Negro; Gavin Wright and Howard Kunreuther, "Cotton, Corn, and Risk in the Cotton South After the Civil War," Journal of Economic History 35 (September 1975): 526-51.
22. Earl Crosby, "Limited Success Against Long Odds: The Black County Agent," Agricultural History 57 (July 1983): 277-88; Kelsey, The Negro Farmer; Neil McMillen, Dark Journey, Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom; Woodson, The Rural Negro; Gavin Wright and Howard Kunreuther, "Cotton, Corn, and Risk in the Cotton South After the Civil War," Journal of Economic History 35 (September 1975): 526-51.
23. Earl Crosby, "Limited Success Against Long Odds: The Black County Agent," Agricultural History 57 (July 1983): 277-88; Kelsey, The Negro Farmer; Neil McMillen, Dark Journey, Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989); Ransom and Sutch, One Kind of Freedom; Woodson, The Rural Negro; Gavin Wright and Howard Kunreuther, "Cotton, Corn, and Risk in the Cotton South After the Civil War," Journal of Economic History 35 (September 1975): 526-51.
24. The successful marketing of food crops depended, in part, on a farmer's ability to transport produce to urban centers within a short time, and as frugally as possible. As late as 1904 only 4 percent of the South's roads were classified as improved. Gilbert File, Cotton Fields No More: Southern Agriculture, 1865-1980 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984); Howard Preston, Dirt Roads to Dixie: Accessibility and Modernization in the South, 1885-1935 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991).
25. The successful marketing of food crops depended, in part, on a farmer's ability to transport produce to urban centers within a short time, and as frugally as possible. As late as 1904 only 4 percent of the South's roads were classified as improved. Gilbert File, Cotton Fields No More: Southern Agriculture, 1865-1980 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984); Howard Preston, Dirt Roads to Dixie: Accessibility and Modernization in the South, 1885-1935 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991).
26. Alessandro Bonanno, Small Farms: Persistence with Legitimation (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1987); Steven Hahn, The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeoman Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983).
27. Alessandro Bonanno, Small Farms: Persistence with Legitimation (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1987); Steven Hahn, The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeoman Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983).
28. Woofter observed that Georgia's real estate agents were reporting that African American home and land owners were selling out, sometimes at a loss, and leaving. Although Woofter acknowledged that landowners comprised a small number of those migrating, he stated that they "form an appreciable proportion of the property-holding Negroes." Thomas Woofter, "Migration of Negroes from Georgia," in Negro Migration in 1916-1917, ed. Division of Negro Economics, U.S. Department of Labor (1919; reprint, New York: Negro University Press, 1969), 75-91.
29. Although the census did not report land ownership by race before 1900, Loren Schweninger, in Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990), estimated that 1,367 or 1.4 percent of all back farm operators in Georgia were owners in 1870, and 8,131 or 13 percent were owners in 1890. Fisher estimated that in 1910 African American farm owners constituted 12.7 percent of all owners in Georgia; see James Fisher, "Negro Farm Ownership in the South," Annals of the Association of American Geographers 63 (December 1973): 478-89. Not only do Georgia's tax digests provide an important resource for studying racial distinctions in land ownership before the 1900 census began providing such information, they also supplement post-1900 census information in two ways. The tax digest recorded all land owned outside a one-mile radius of a town or city whereas the census's designation for a "farm" was reserved for agricultural units of three or more acres, a criteria that introduces a bias against reporting of small, subsistence-oriented land holdings. Second, the tax digests include information on several categories of property besides land, such as the value of livestock and agricultural tools. These additional categories can be helpful in evaluating local levels of agricultural productivity, particularly for the years in which this information was not collected by the census.
30. Although the census did not report land ownership by race before 1900, Loren Schweninger, in Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990), estimated that 1,367 or 1.4 percent of all back farm operators in Georgia were owners in 1870, and 8,131 or 13 percent were owners in 1890. Fisher estimated that in 1910 African American farm owners constituted 12.7 percent of all owners in Georgia; see James Fisher, "Negro Farm Ownership in the South," Annals of the Association of American Geographers 63 (December 1973): 478-89. Not only do Georgia's tax digests provide an important resource for studying racial distinctions in land ownership before the 1900 census began providing such information, they also supplement post-1900 census information in two ways. The tax digest recorded all land owned outside a one-mile radius of a town or city whereas the census's designation for a "farm" was reserved for agricultural units of three or more acres, a criteria that introduces a bias against reporting of small, subsistence-oriented land holdings. Second, the tax digests include information on several categories of property besides land, such as the value of livestock and agricultural tools. These additional categories can be helpful in evaluating local levels of agricultural productivity, particularly for the years in which this information was not collected by the census.
31. The proportion of the county area owned by blacks is reported, instead of the absolute number of acres owned, so that differences in county size can be taken into account. I used county size to adjust for scale, rather than a population-based measure, because county size is less likely to change over time than population. For a more detailed discussion of how different measures of black landholding can provide very different ratings of landholding across counties, see Peggy Hargis and Patrick Horan, "The 'Low-Country Advantage' for African Americans in Georgia, 1880-1930," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 28 (Summer 1997): 37-40.
32. Georgia's landscape includes several distinct regions: the mountainous hill country of the northern most portion of the state, the rolling hills of the Piedmont, the crescent-shaped band of counties stretching from Richmond County to Muskogee County that comprise the plantation belt, the band of counties along Georgia's seaboard, the sandy pine barrens of the southeastern wiregrass region, and the lower southwestern corner of Georgia. For a map and description of Georgia's regions, see Hargis and Horan, "Low-Country Advantage," 35.
33. Early social scientists that discuss differences in land ownership among African Americans residing in different sections of the state include E. M. Banks, The Economics of Land Tenure (New York: Columbia University Press, 1905); W. E. B. DuBois, "The Negro Landholder of Georgia," Department of Labor Bulletin, no. 35 (July 1901): 647-777; Raper, Preface to Peasantry; Thomas Woofter, Black Yeomanry (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1930). For a more complete discussion of the "low-country advantage" and the "plantation disadvantage," see Hargis and Horan, "Low-Country Advantage."
34. Early social scientists that discuss differences in land ownership among African Americans residing in different sections of the state include E. M. Banks, The Economics of Land Tenure (New York: Columbia University Press, 1905); W. E. B. DuBois, "The Negro Landholder of Georgia," Department of Labor Bulletin, no. 35 (July 1901): 647-777; Raper, Preface to Peasantry; Thomas Woofter, Black Yeomanry (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1930). For a more complete discussion of the "low-country advantage" and the "plantation disadvantage," see Hargis and Horan, "Low-Country Advantage."
35. Early social scientists that discuss differences in land ownership among African Americans residing in different sections of the state include E. M. Banks, The Economics of Land Tenure (New York: Columbia University Press, 1905); W. E. B. DuBois, "The Negro Landholder of Georgia," Department of Labor Bulletin, no. 35 (July 1901): 647-777; Raper, Preface to Peasantry; Thomas Woofter, Black Yeomanry (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1930). For a more complete discussion of the "low-country advantage" and the "plantation disadvantage," see Hargis and Horan, "Low-Country Advantage."
36. Early social scientists that discuss differences in land ownership among African Americans residing in different sections of the state include E. M. Banks, The Economics of Land Tenure (New York: Columbia University Press, 1905); W. E. B. DuBois, "The Negro Landholder of Georgia," Department of Labor Bulletin, no. 35 (July 1901): 647-777; Raper, Preface to Peasantry; Thomas Woofter, Black Yeomanry (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1930). For a more complete discussion of the "low-country advantage" and the "plantation disadvantage," see Hargis and Horan, "Low-Country Advantage."
37. Early social scientists that discuss differences in land ownership among African Americans residing in different sections of the state include E. M. Banks, The Economics of Land Tenure (New York: Columbia University Press, 1905); W. E. B. DuBois, "The Negro Landholder of Georgia," Department of Labor Bulletin, no. 35 (July 1901): 647-777; Raper, Preface to Peasantry; Thomas Woofter, Black Yeomanry (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1930). For a more complete discussion of the "low-country advantage" and the "plantation disadvantage," see Hargis and Horan, "Low-Country Advantage."
38. In 1880, the proportion of low-country land under black control was less than 1 percent in Chatham County, about 3.5 percent in Bryan and Camden Counties, 3 percent in McIntosh, and approximately 2 percent in Glynn County. For a discussion of how the task system influenced the culture and economics of the low country, see Thomas Armstrong, "From Task Labor to Free Labor: The Transition Along Georgia's Rice Coast, 1820-1880," Georgia Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 1980): 432-47; Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1983); Charles Joyner, Down By The Riverside (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984); Phillip Morgan, "Task and Gang Systems: The Organization of Labor on New World Plantations," in Work and Labor In Early America, ed. S. Innes (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 189-220; Phillip Morgan, "The Ownership of Property by Slaves in The Mid-Nineteenth-Century Low Country," Journal of Southern History 69 (August 1983): 395-420; Phillip Morgan, "Work and Culture: The Task System and The World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700-1880," William and Mary Quarterly 39 (October 1982): 563-99; John Strickland, "Traditional Culture and Moral Economy: Social and Economic Change in the South Carolina Low Country, 1865-1910," in The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation, ed. Steven Hahn and Jonathan Prude (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 141-78.
39. In 1880, the proportion of low-country land under black control was less than 1 percent in Chatham County, about 3.5 percent in Bryan and Camden Counties, 3 percent in McIntosh, and approximately 2 percent in Glynn County. For a discussion of how the task system influenced the culture and economics of the low country, see Thomas Armstrong, "From Task Labor to Free Labor: The Transition Along Georgia's Rice Coast, 1820-1880," Georgia Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 1980): 432-47; Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1983); Charles Joyner, Down By The Riverside (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984); Phillip Morgan, "Task and Gang Systems: The Organization of Labor on New World Plantations," in Work and Labor In Early America, ed. S. Innes (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 189-220; Phillip Morgan, "The Ownership of Property by Slaves in The Mid-Nineteenth-Century Low Country," Journal of Southern History 69 (August 1983): 395-420; Phillip Morgan, "Work and Culture: The Task System and The World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700-1880," William and Mary Quarterly 39 (October 1982): 563-99; John Strickland, "Traditional Culture and Moral Economy: Social and Economic Change in the South Carolina Low Country, 1865-1910," in The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation, ed. Steven Hahn and Jonathan Prude (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 141-78.
40. In 1880, the proportion of low-country land under black control was less than 1 percent in Chatham County, about 3.5 percent in Bryan and Camden Counties, 3 percent in McIntosh, and approximately 2 percent in Glynn County. For a discussion of how the task system influenced the culture and economics of the low country, see Thomas Armstrong, "From Task Labor to Free Labor: The Transition Along Georgia's Rice Coast, 1820-1880," Georgia Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 1980): 432-47; Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1983); Charles Joyner, Down By The Riverside (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984); Phillip Morgan, "Task and Gang Systems: The Organization of Labor on New World Plantations," in Work and Labor In Early America, ed. S. Innes (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 189-220; Phillip Morgan, "The Ownership of Property by Slaves in The Mid-Nineteenth-Century Low Country," Journal of Southern History 69 (August 1983): 395-420; Phillip Morgan, "Work and Culture: The Task System and The World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700-1880," William and Mary Quarterly 39 (October 1982): 563-99; John Strickland, "Traditional Culture and Moral Economy: Social and Economic Change in the South Carolina Low Country, 1865-1910," in The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation, ed. Steven Hahn and Jonathan Prude (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 141-78.
41. In 1880, the proportion of low-country land under black control was less than 1 percent in Chatham County, about 3.5 percent in Bryan and Camden Counties, 3 percent in McIntosh, and approximately 2 percent in Glynn County. For a discussion of how the task system influenced the culture and economics of the low country, see Thomas Armstrong, "From Task Labor to Free Labor: The Transition Along Georgia's Rice Coast, 1820-1880," Georgia Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 1980): 432-47; Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1983); Charles Joyner, Down By The Riverside (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984); Phillip Morgan, "Task and Gang Systems: The Organization of Labor on New World Plantations," in Work and Labor In Early America, ed. S. Innes (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 189-220; Phillip Morgan, "The Ownership of Property by Slaves in The Mid-Nineteenth-Century Low Country," Journal of Southern History 69 (August 1983): 395-420; Phillip Morgan, "Work and Culture: The Task System and The World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700-1880," William and Mary Quarterly 39 (October 1982): 563-99; John Strickland, "Traditional Culture and Moral Economy: Social and Economic Change in the South Carolina Low Country, 1865-1910," in The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation, ed. Steven Hahn and Jonathan Prude (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 141-78.
42. In 1880, the proportion of low-country land under black control was less than 1 percent in Chatham County, about 3.5 percent in Bryan and Camden Counties, 3 percent in McIntosh, and approximately 2 percent in Glynn County. For a discussion of how the task system influenced the culture and economics of the low country, see Thomas Armstrong, "From Task Labor to Free Labor: The Transition Along Georgia's Rice Coast, 1820-1880," Georgia Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 1980): 432-47; Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1983); Charles Joyner, Down By The Riverside (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984); Phillip Morgan, "Task and Gang Systems: The Organization of Labor on New World Plantations," in Work and Labor In Early America, ed. S. Innes (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 189-220; Phillip Morgan, "The Ownership of Property by Slaves in The Mid-Nineteenth-Century Low Country," Journal of Southern History 69 (August 1983): 395-420; Phillip Morgan, "Work and Culture: The Task System and The World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700-1880," William and Mary Quarterly 39 (October 1982): 563-99; John Strickland, "Traditional Culture and Moral Economy: Social and Economic Change in the South Carolina Low Country, 1865-1910," in The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation, ed. Steven Hahn and Jonathan Prude (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 141-78.
43. In 1880, the proportion of low-country land under black control was less than 1 percent in Chatham County, about 3.5 percent in Bryan and Camden Counties, 3 percent in McIntosh, and approximately 2 percent in Glynn County. For a discussion of how the task system influenced the culture and economics of the low country, see Thomas Armstrong, "From Task Labor to Free Labor: The Transition Along Georgia's Rice Coast, 1820-1880," Georgia Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 1980): 432-47; Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1983); Charles Joyner, Down By The Riverside (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984); Phillip Morgan, "Task and Gang Systems: The Organization of Labor on New World Plantations," in Work and Labor In Early America, ed. S. Innes (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 189-220; Phillip Morgan, "The Ownership of Property by Slaves in The Mid-Nineteenth-Century Low Country," Journal of Southern History 69 (August 1983): 395-420; Phillip Morgan, "Work and Culture: The Task System and The World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700-1880," William and Mary Quarterly 39 (October 1982): 563-99; John Strickland, "Traditional Culture and Moral Economy: Social and Economic Change in the South Carolina Low Country, 1865-1910," in The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation, ed. Steven Hahn and Jonathan Prude (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 141-78.
44. In 1880, the proportion of low-country land under black control was less than 1 percent in Chatham County, about 3.5 percent in Bryan and Camden Counties, 3 percent in McIntosh, and approximately 2 percent in Glynn County. For a discussion of how the task system influenced the culture and economics of the low country, see Thomas Armstrong, "From Task Labor to Free Labor: The Transition Along Georgia's Rice Coast, 1820-1880," Georgia Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 1980): 432-47; Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1983); Charles Joyner, Down By The Riverside (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984); Phillip Morgan, "Task and Gang Systems: The Organization of Labor on New World Plantations," in Work and Labor In Early America, ed. S. Innes (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 189-220; Phillip Morgan, "The Ownership of Property by Slaves in The Mid-Nineteenth-Century Low Country," Journal of Southern History 69 (August 1983): 395-420; Phillip Morgan, "Work and Culture: The Task System and The World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700-1880," William and Mary Quarterly 39 (October 1982): 563-99; John Strickland, "Traditional Culture and Moral Economy: Social and Economic Change in the South Carolina Low Country, 1865-1910," in The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation, ed. Steven Hahn and Jonathan Prude (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 141-78.
45. Edward Ayers, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Fite, Cotton Fields No More; Flynn, White Land, Black Labor; Robert Higgs, "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks Before World War I," American Economic Review 72 (September 1982): 725-37; Jay Mandle, The Roots of Black Poverty (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1978).
46. Edward Ayers, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Fite, Cotton Fields No More; Flynn, White Land, Black Labor; Robert Higgs, "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks Before World War I," American Economic Review 72 (September 1982): 725-37; Jay Mandle, The Roots of Black Poverty (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1978).
47. Edward Ayers, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Fite, Cotton Fields No More; Flynn, White Land, Black Labor; Robert Higgs, "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks Before World War I," American Economic Review 72 (September 1982): 725-37; Jay Mandle, The Roots of Black Poverty (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1978).
48. Edward Ayers, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Fite, Cotton Fields No More; Flynn, White Land, Black Labor; Robert Higgs, "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks Before World War I," American Economic Review 72 (September 1982): 725-37; Jay Mandle, The Roots of Black Poverty (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1978).
49. Edward Ayers, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Fite, Cotton Fields No More; Flynn, White Land, Black Labor; Robert Higgs, "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks Before World War I," American Economic Review 72 (September 1982): 725-37; Jay Mandle, The Roots of Black Poverty (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1978).
50. There are several good reasons for measuring the demand for land in terms of the adult black male population, rather than total black population or adult black population. First, black fertility patterns varied between rural and more urban counties, and thus total population figures may be subject to systematic variations between urban and rural areas. Second, adults would have been property owners, not children. And third, census information on adult black females is not consistently available. Counties are considered as having relatively high or low rates of land ownership if the standardized residual for each observation is in excess of the absolute value of 2.
51. Ann Malone, "Piney Woods Farmers of South Georgia, 1850-1900: Jeffersonian Yeoman in an Age of Expanding Commercialism," Agricultural History 60 (Fall 1986): 51-84.
52. Black-owned acreage for the Taliaferro/Liberty comparison were pulled directly from the county tax ledgers for each of these counties. The number of black adult males are estimates.