Heather Gentle, Michael Grant, and Paige Phillips
Heather Gentle
Dougherty County, Georgia was a hotspot for African-American cotton workers. The people of Dougherty County viewed their African-American workers as lazy, violent, and simple-minded farmers. At the time workers mainly worked on cotton farms as slaves. Dougherty County was home to more than 6,000 slaves making it known as the Black Belt of Georgia. In this county the houses were plain and the church was often doubled as the school-house. People usually worked from sun-up to sun-down making the social scene barren.
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2209
Today, Dougherty County is much different than described in “The Souls of Black Folk”. The African-American population is no longer enslaved and has begun thriving in this rich community. Today, instead of sharing a church and a school-house Dougherty County is home to 26 school systems which include: sixteen elementary schools, six middle schools, and four high schools. The school system is also the second largest employer in the county along with other companies such as Miller-Coors brewing company. In their downtime residents enjoy duck and quail hunting and fishing, a leisure they once could not enjoy.
Transportation is huge towards the development of Atlanta.
The railroads back in the mid 1800’s are credited to most of Atlanta’s growth
and expansion. The Western and Atlantic railroad
formed a home in Georgia in 1837 and that “zero-mile” town was called Terminus.
Then a couple years later, two more railroads converged with the Western and
Atlantic and jump started the growth of that city. In 1843 the name of the town
was changed to Marthasville, and finally in 1845 the name was officially
changed to Atlanta. After Sherman’s march to the sea, Atlanta lay mostly in
ruins. Thankfully in 1865 all of the railroad lines had been restored and
boosted the development of the city again. Atlanta soon became a leader in the
region’s commercial development. (http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-22007)
Atlanta in 1860 was the fourth largest city in the state.
The population was diversely spread through whites and African American
people. Atlanta was a home front for war
time industry and transportation for the South during the war. The amount of
growth and new jobs led to a boom of Atlanta’s population. The city grew from
9,000 people to 22,000 in four years. By
1900 the population had grown to almost 90,000. African Americans accounted for
about 40 percent of the population. Atlanta experienced major growth in the new
century. The population tripled and new communities prospered. This was due to
a “forward Atlanta” thinking. Atlanta continues to grow today and is now one of
the largest cities in the nation.(http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2207)
This video is an old-school style documentary of what the
Atlanta industry and history looks like.
Paige Phillips
In chapter seven of W.E.B. DuBois' short story, he mainly talked about his surroundings. He was travelling through the state of Georgia, and he went into detail about the different scenery and people he came in contact with in this chapter. His viewpoint was relevant in that time, because he wrote simply about what he was seeing. The chapter's name was, "Of the Black Belt", because Georgia was a main slavery state. Racism was at it's highest point, so the chapter title seemed very appropriate. Put into today's terms, I don't think that this particular chapter is relevant in today's world. DuBois wrote that he was headed south from north Georgia, and goes into detail about almost every city he passes. Each city given comes with an explanation of the land, and sometimes the population of blacks versus whites. He also describes what people do in the towns, and tells about the people he met along the way. Though very interesting, I don't find DuBois' descriptions in this chapter relevant to present times, because almost everything about Georgia has changed. Twelve mile plantations are almost non-existent, and one room cabins on country roads are not very common. Whites no longer have slaves, and there are endless opportunities for people of every race to be successful. Thankfully, Georgia is very different today from what DuBois wrote about in this chapter.
