The Black Belt that should have been

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

The argument over Reparations seems to center around “slavery”. I most certainly agree
that compensation for slavery should be given to the Black nation of America. Many whites say that
they, nor their forefathers had a direct hand in slavery. White corporations who participated in
slavery have argued that since slavery was legal according to state law, they did not break any laws
and therefore should not have to compensate descendants of slaves. The whole white system argues
that it was just a few that participated and benefited from slavery and that America changed her
ways and now Blacks have had the opportunity to participate in the “American Dream” like
every other immigrant to this “fair” land.

In studying the history of Black land ownership I became fascinated with those 45 years after
slavery when Black people amassed over 16 million acres of land. As cruel as slavery was, it had not
broken Black people to the point that they had given up on being free, independent and productive.
Most of the land was in what is called the Black Belt. Twenty to thirty percent of the farm land in
Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Arkansas was owned by Blacks in 1910. Forty to fifty percent
of the farm land in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia was owned by Blacks. Fifty to sixty percent was
owned by Blacks in South Carolina, while over sixty percent of the farm land was owned by Blacks in
Mississippi.

These nine contiguous states would have been a good base for economic development of the Black
race in the early 1900’s. Add to this the schools, hospitals, insurance companies and other
institutions which Blacks had produced in this Black Belt region, you have the beginning of a viable
nation. However, the most startling thing that I discovered was the number and type of inventions
that Blacks had patented in the brief period from 1865 to 1899 such as the: baby buggy, bicycle
frame, chamber commode, clothes dryer, door knob, egg beater, electric lamp bulb, elevator, fire
extinguisher, fountain pen, golf tee, guitar, horse shoe, ironing board, lawn mower, lawn sprinkler,
mail box, mop, peanut butter, pencil sharpener, phone transmitter, refrigerator, stove, street
sweeper, tricycle, and typewriter.

All of these things are taken for granted today, yet play an essential part in modern life. The
Honorable Elijah Muhammad has recommended that Blacks unite and utilize our talents under “An
Economic Blueprint”. The Million Man March proved that when Blacks are not intimidated by the
white power structure, they can come together with peace and brotherhood. I might be wrong, but I
feel that one of the main reasons that Blacks do not want to separate is that they feel that Blacks
don’t have the intelligence to build an economy and nation with all of the luxury and conveniences
of white America.

However, the research reveals that right after slavery Blacks showed great genius and ingenuity
which is proven by all of these patented inventions produced in that short period of time. One may
ask “If they were so smart, then why are they still poor?” The short answer to that is
“terrorism”. White terrorism worked to destroy the hope and creativity of a Black nation
on the rise.

In past Farmer Newsletter articles we have shown how the USDA in collaboration with the whites
down South worked to take back that 16 million acres of farm land. A study of lynching will reveal
how whites also used a type of psychological warfare to intimidate the very “minds” of
Blacks.

Below I have presented a chart plotting the number of Black inventions from 1860 to 1939. On this
same chart I have plotted the number of Blacks lynched from 1880 to 1939. To get the number to fit
on the same graph I divided the number of Blacks lynched by 10. So when you see in the decade of
1890-99 the number 112, that refers to 112 Blacks lynched per year for 10 years or about 1 lynching
every 3 days.

We also have plotted the number of Black owned farm land acreage starting from the first national
census data that kept track of it starting in 1900. The acreage data is plotted in units of
millions. Therefore, “16” on the graph represents 16 million acres.

When I looked at this graph my mind was blown away with the level of creativity that Blacks
exemplified in the two decades between 1880 and 1900. This twenty year period accounted for almost
70 inventions compared to less than 10 for the period between 1900 and 1920. What happened to dampen
this quick rise of Black creativity? The answer lies in the increased brutality and lawlessness
perpetrated against Blacks during this period.

After Blacks were sold out by the Republican Party after the 1876 elections which is known as the
Hayes Compromise, the Northern troops were pulled out of the South allowing the KKK to have its way
with Blacks. A string of crucifixions called lynching reached a crescendo by the 1890s terrorizing
Black people literally out of their minds. Between 1889 and 1930 at least 3,000 Blacks were lynched,
some specifically targeted because they owned land or had businesses. All attempts of passing
anti-lynching legislation failed as the federal government sat holding its hand.

Starting in 1890 a systematic disenfranchisement of Blacks began in Mississippi and by 1901,
America saw her last black congressman of that era. In 1896 the Supreme Court ruling on
“separate but equal” in the Plessy vs Ferguson case accepted “Jim Crow laws” as
the law of the land. All attempts of passing anti-lynching legislation failed as the federal
government sat holding its hand. These political and judicial signals, on both state and national
levels, humiliated and frightened the black population, while giving the KKK and other terrorist
organizations more fuel for their “burning crosses”.

Between 1895 and 1921 there were at least 36 riots where white folk destroyed Black neighborhoods
in US cities in the South and North. The most outrageous level of white mob violence occurred in
Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. Many Blacks ran out of the Black Belt into Oklahoma and Kansas. By the
early 1920s they had amassed much wealth in enclaves of Black dominated regions such as “Black
Wall Street” in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, whites there like whites in the South, when they saw
their once slaves breaking away and doing something for self, reacted with mob violence. The whites
blew that portion of Tulsa off the map using aircraft to bomb Black neighborhoods

Not surprisingly, the level of creativity dropped after 1900 and after 1910 the acreage of Black
owned farm land also began to drop. The “poison” of fear produced by terrorism had
produced its desired affect. Today, many Black youth have been lead to believe that the failure of
Blacks to rise was because they did not have the intelligence or internal fortitude to be
independent and prosperous. However, an analysis of America’s history of psychological terrorism
gives a more rational explanation for the stunted development of Black people in the US.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has described a particular class of white people as
“sentinels standing watch over the tomb” of a dead people. These “sentinels”
look for signs of life, then sic the dogs of white hate to bite at the souls of Black folk.

History has now shown that the monumental rise of Black people immediately after slavery could
have produced a virtual “nation within a nation” in the Black Belt. From 1990 to 2000 over
500,000 Blacks have migrated back to the South. Most of our three million acres of Black owned
farmland is still in the South. Therefore, if Blacks unite and follow a wise economic agenda, we may
yet see the Black Belt rise again.