Mapping Hale County & Alabama's Black Belt


The Black Belt

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 The Black Belt 

Hale County This Morning, This Evening is filmed across Central Alabama, in what is known as the Black Belt area. (Highlighted yellow)

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Blackbelt Info

The Blackbelt region's identity is shaped by both its physical and cultural geography as well as its historical development. 

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In the 1820s and 30s, the  Black Belt  identified a strip of rich, dark, cotton-growing dirt drawing immigrants primarily from Georgia and the Carolinas..

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Following the forced removal of Native Americans, the Black Belt emerged as the core of a rapidly expanding plantation area.   

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The blackbelt contains roughly 12 to 21 counties, depending on how one defines the area. All definitions of the include Hale county.

The region was occupied by slaveholders in the 1820s and 30s, where over half of the state’s enslaved population was concentrated.

After the Civil War, the term took on a more political meaning for the area of the state that has a majority Black population. 

A number of factors contributed to the decline in productivity, such as emancipation and the Great Migration. 

Knowing this, it is no surprise that the Black Belt of Alabama was a hotbed of Civil Rights activity for the South during the twentieth century.

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Tuskegee Airmen

Tuskegee Airmen trained at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Macon County from 1941 to 1946.

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Montgomery Bus Boycott

During 1955 and 1956, Montgomery County was the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  Rosa Parks  was a major catalyst to this movement when she was arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing her seat to a white passenger

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Voter's Rights Act

In 1965, participants from the Black Belt marched from Selma to Montgomery along Highway 80 in Dallas, Lowndes, and Montgomery Counties, In the wake of this event which became known as  "Bloody Sunday," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appealed for sympathetic Americans to join him in Selma for a new march to Montgomery. Thousands, including many religious leaders, came to Selma..

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The 1965 Selma to Montgomery March was the climax of the Selma voting rights demonstrations. It provided some of the most recognized imagery of the Civil Rights Movement. A great deal of national publicity generated by the march led to Congress passing the Voting Rights Act in 1965. 

More Information on Alabama's BlackBelt,  Encyclopedia of Alabama 

The Towns of Hale County

Moundville

Located in north-central Hale County and south-central Tuscaloosa County, with the majority of the town lying in Hale County

Named Moundville after the   large Indian mounds   that lay within the town limits.  Moundville Archaeological Park   is located within the town limits.

View from Mound B

Akron

Population: 242

Akron is located in northwest Hale County. The name Akron derives from the Greek word for "summit" or "high point."

The Presbyterian Church, Akron AL

Akron was established in 1870 by the Alabama and Chattanooga  Railroad 

Greensboro: "The Catfish Capital"

Population 2482

Greensboro Mural

Greensboro is the county seat of Hale County

Before white settlement, the land that now includes Greensboro was part of the Choctaw Nation

 The first homesteaders of the area that would become Greensboro were the Russell family, and the community was first known as Russell Settlement. The following year, the town was renamed Troy.

. In 1823, the town was renamed Greensboro and was officially incorporated on December 24

In 1856, the  Methodist Church  established Southern University (now Birmingham-Southern College in  Birmingham ) in Greensboro. In 1867, Hale County was created from territory carved from several other existing counties, and Greensboro was named as its county seat.

Town leaders purchased Salem Church from the Alabama Baptist Convention and moved the county government and court offices into the building. 

Newbern

Population 172

Newbern is located in southeastern Hale County 

The Borden Brothers bought much of the land in the area and laid out a town, cutting a wide road through the center (Hwy 61 and selling lots for homesteads and for businesses. They named the town after New Bern, a town in south central North Carolina that was the seat of government for the British Province of North Carolina until the American Revolution.

Newbern Fire Station

Hale County, This Morning, This Evening Film Location Points & Heat Map

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More Information on Hale County's towns ,   Encyclopedia  of Alabama 

Main Street, Greensboro Through Time


Exploring Hale County, Through My Lens...

Partial Collection of My Photos

Sand Rd, Newbern

Water Tower 1/3

Luke Jackson Rd, Newbern

Luke Jackson Rd, Newbern

Luke Jackson Rd, Newbern

Co Rd 24, Newbern

Jones St, Greensboro

Broad St, Selma

Alabama Ave, Selma

Broad St, Selma

Newspaper Clipping, Selma Times

Baptist Hill Road, Greensboro

Head Start Graduation, Salem Baptist Church

Baptist Hill Road

Jones St, Greensboro

Jones St, Greensboro

Jones St, Greensboro

Jones St, Greensboro

Tuscaloosa St, Greensboro

Tuscaloosa, St

Tuscaloosa St, Greensboro

Main St, Greensboro

Main St, Greensboro

Main St, Greensboro

Mound State Park, Moundville

Mound State Park, Moundville

Mound State Park, Moundville

Mound State Park, Moundville

AL HW 69, Moundville

AL HWY 69, Moundville

"Twinz Kutz"

Safari Park, Montgomery County

Sand Rd, Newbern

Water Tower 1/3

"Catfish Capital"

Luke Jackson Rd, Newbern

Luke Jackson Rd, Newbern

Luke Jackson Rd, Newbern

Co Rd 24, Newbern

Jones St, Greensboro

Two Towers, view from Depot

Broad St, Selma

2015 Jubilee Celebration

Alabama Ave, Selma

"Honor the Past. Build the Future" 2015 Jubilee Celebration

Broad St, Selma

2015 Jubilee Celebration

Newspaper Clipping, Selma Times

1994, My Father and I Crossing the Bridge

Baptist Hill Road, Greensboro

Salem Baptist Church

Head Start Graduation, Salem Baptist Church

Circle Seven Head Start, class of 1998

Baptist Hill Road

Greensboro High School

Jones St, Greensboro

"Greensboro Depot" sign

Jones St, Greensboro

Hours of operation at the Depot

Jones St, Greensboro

Depot

Jones St, Greensboro

Depot

No information provided

Tuscaloosa St, Greensboro

"Greensboro" Mural

Tuscaloosa, St

Mural Closeup

Tuscaloosa St, Greensboro

Main St, Greensboro

Court House Entrance

Main St, Greensboro

Main St, Greensboro

Mound State Park, Moundville

Mound State Park, Moundville

Mound State Park, Moundville

Mound State Park, Moundville

Mound Steps

AL HW 69, Moundville

Hale County High School

AL HWY 69, Moundville

Hale County High School

"Twinz Kutz"

Former Location of Barbershop

Safari Park, Montgomery County

Thank You

View from Mound B

The Presbyterian Church, Akron AL

Greensboro Mural

Newbern Fire Station