Tennessee's Black Population
Significance of Regional Difference
It is interesting to note that if the state were divided in half, the distribution of blacks in the population would be quite extreme. The eastern half of the state contains substantial blocks of "white" counties where the proportion of blacks is very low. The Eastern Division of the state contains only 141,553 blacks, and these represent only 13.4 percent of all blacks who reside in Tennessee. If Knox and Hamilton counties were excluded from this area, the percentage for the Eastern Division is 1.5 percent black and contains only 3.4 percent of all blacks in the state.
The lowest proportion of blacks in the Middle Division is found in Pickett and Sequatchie counties, where the percentage of blacks is only 0.1 percent. Pickett County has the smallest absolute number of blacks in the state with only five. However, six other counties in the Middle Division have a population that is less than 1 percent black. All of these counties are concentrated on the eastern edge of the Middle Division. In the Eastern Division, Scott and Union counties have the lowest percentage of blacks, 0.1 percent. Eight additional counties in the Eastern Division also have populations that are less than 1 percent black. Five of these counties are on the northwestern edge of the Eastern Division, adjacent to the six counties in the Middle Division that have less than 1 percent black population. Thus, the preponderance of predominately "white" counties in Tennessee covers a wedge-shaped area that includes most of what is referred to as the Cumberland Plateau region. This wedge of "white" counties constitutes almost 20 percent of the land area in Tennessee.
The concentration of blacks in the western end of the state is no historical accident. In the second quarter of the 19th century, blacks, as slaves, were brought into this region in large numbers to provide the labor needed for the booming cotton culture that was developing in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi (Lamon, 1981:3-25). Since agriculture was of a different kind in the middle and eastern parts of Tennessee, fewer blacks settled or were settled in these regions. Also, unlike the eastern parts of the state, the average growth rate for the black population in the western part of the state was always significantly higher than that of the white population. This reflects the heavy dependence on agriculture in this part of Tennessee and the inability of blacks to migrate because of a lack of industrial stills (Lamon, 1981).
Between 1900 and 1940 the population growth rate for blacks in each region of the state fell considerably when compared to the white population. The average growth rate for the black population in the Western Division was half that of the white population and more than half in the Eastern Division. In the Middle Division, the black population actually suffered net losses in population, registering an average annual negative growth rate for the period of 1900 to 1940 of 0.6 percent. In fact, in this century, the peak population for blacks in the Middle Division occurred in 1900. Since 1950, the growth rate for the black population has been approximately half that of whites in the Eastern and Middle divisions. However, since 1950, the black population has exhibited a higher percentage of growth rate in every decade except 1960. This growth rate has occurred primarily in the Western Division of the state. This seems to reflect a stemming of out-migration by blacks from the region and even a return migration from outside the state. However, these migration patterns are quite pointedly urban rather than rural. Urban areas in Tennessee in all regions have gained black population at the expense of rural areas.