Black Belt (Soil and Agricultural Region)

The Black Belt is a region of dark, rich soils across central Alabama and part of the Southern Black Belt, a crescent that runs from Maryland to Texas [1]. Its counties number from 12 to 21 depending on the definition. The label has been in use for more than a century. This entry covers its geology, boundaries, farming and heritage designation.

Definitions

The traditional agricultural definition includes 17 counties: Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Crenshaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Montgomery, Perry, Pike, Russell, Sumter and Wilcox. Other definitions are used by the University of Alabama’s Institute for Rural Health (19 counties), the Alabama Black Belt Heritage Area (19) and a 2004 gubernatorial commission (12) [1].

Soils and geology

The Selma Chalk, a limestone formed in shallow Gulf waters roughly 66 to 38 million years ago, underlies the Blackland Prairie. It was uplifted and tilted toward the Gulf of Mexico, and the dark soils above it suit cotton, wheat and, with irrigation, rice. The Ripley cuesta, locally called the Chunnennuggee, sits at the region’s heart [1][2].

Physical geography

The terrain is mostly flat and well drained with low rolling hills, and northern elevations average about 600 feet. A band of hills along the fall line separates the Black Belt from higher ground to the north and east. Major river basins include the Sipsey-Warrior, Coosa-Tallapoosa, Alabama-Cahaba, Tombigbee and Chattahoochee. About 74 percent of the traditional counties were forested in 2008, mostly loblolly and shortleaf pine [1].

Settlement and agriculture

During Alabama fever in the early 1800s, farmers and cotton planters arrived, and by 1820 seven of the 17 counties had been chartered. Productivity declined from the late 1800s through soil depletion and economic change, and the boll weevil devastated cotton in the mid-1910s, prompting more diversified crops. Today the region produces cattle, corn, cotton, eggs, poultry, peanuts, soybeans, wheat, hay and timber. Catfish farming is significant, and some operators raise inland shrimp using a saline aquifer beneath the Selma Chalk [1].

Culture and heritage

Cultural geographers place the Black Belt on the boundary between the Midland and Lower South culture regions. Organizations preserving its heritage include the Alabama Black Belt Heritage Area, the Black Belt Community Foundation, Black Belt Treasures, the Center for the Study of the Black Belt and the Rural Studio. In January 2023, Congress created the Black Belt National Heritage Area, Alabama’s second national heritage area after Muscle Shoals [1].

Economy today

Nine of Alabama’s ten poorest counties are in the Black Belt, according to the EOA, and the 17 traditional counties held about 12 percent of the state’s population in 2010. Farmland is increasingly converted to commercial timber or hunting preserves [1]. See Geography of Alabama.

FAQs

Why is it called the Black Belt? The name comes from the dark soil.

How many counties are in it? Seventeen under the traditional definition; other definitions use 12 to 21.

What rock is beneath it? The Selma Chalk.

What heritage designation does it have? Black Belt National Heritage Area, created in January 2023.

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Black Belt Region in Alabama
2. Encyclopedia of Alabama: East Gulf Coastal Plain Physiographic Section

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue