The Black Belt
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)
Blackbelt Info
The Blackbelt region's identity is shaped by both its physical and cultural geography as well as its historical development.
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..
Following the forced removal of Native Americans, the Black Belt emerged as the core of a rapidly expanding plantation area.
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.
Tuskegee Airmen
Tuskegee Airmen trained at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Macon County from 1941 to 1946.
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
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..
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.
Akron
Population: 242
Akron is located in northwest Hale County. The name Akron derives from the Greek word for "summit" or "high point."
Akron was established in 1870 by the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad
Greensboro: "The Catfish Capital"
Population 2482
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.
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
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