Dallas County was created by the Alabama territorial legislature on February 9, 1818, fromMontgomery County. This was a portion of theCreekcession of lands to the US government of August 9, 1814. The Creek were known as one of theFive Civilized Tribes of the Southeast. The county was named for U.S. Treasury SecretaryAlexander J. Dallas ofPennsylvania.
Dallas County is located in what has become known as theBlack Belt region of thewest-central portion of the state. The name referred to its fertile soil, and the area was largely developed for cotton plantations, worked by numerous enslaved African Americans in the antebellum period. After emancipation following the Civil War, many of the African Americans stayed in the area and worked assharecroppers and tenant farmers. The county has been majority black since before the war.
Dallas County produced more cotton by 1860 than any other county in the state, requiring a large supply of workers, who were mostly enslaved. Dallas County slave owners on average had seventeen enslaved workers (compared to ten in Montgomery County, for instance); slave owners made up some 16% of the county's white population, but if their families are added, at least a third of the county's population was attached to a slaveholding family, according to historian Alston Fitts.[3]
Well-known local slaveowners include Washington Smith, owner of a big plantation inBogue Chitto, Alabama, near Selma, and founder of the Bank of Selma. After Emancipation he continued to exert great influence over the African-American people in the county.[4] Shortly before the war, Smith had bought a West African girl,Redoshi, one of an illegal shipment of slaves in 1860. He called her Sally Smith. She was fromBenin, kidnapped at age 12 and one of numerous African captives transported on theClotilda toMobile, Alabama, more than 50 years after the slave trade had been abolished.[5]
The county is traversed by theAlabama River, flowing from northeast to southwest across the county. It is bordered by Perry, Chilton, Autauga, Lowndes, Wilcox, and Marengo counties. Originally, the Dallas county seat was atCahaba, which also served as the state capital for a brief period. In 1865, the county seat was transferred toSelma, Alabama as the center of population had moved. Other towns and communities in the still mostly rural county include Marion Junction, Sardis, Orrville, Valley Grande, and Minter.
Cotton production suffered in the early 20th century due to infestation ofboll weevil, which invaded cotton areas throughout the South. At the turn of the 20th century, the state legislaturedisenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites through provisions of a new state constitution requiring payment ofpoll tax and passing aliteracy test for voter registration. These largely survived legal challenges and blacks were excluded from the political system.
The period from 1877 to 1950 (and especially 1890 through 1930), was the height oflynchings across the South, as whites worked to imposewhite supremacy andJim Crow. According to the third edition ofLynching in America, Dallas County had 19 lynchings in this period, the second-highest number of any county in the state after Jefferson County.[6] The lynching mobs killed suspects of alleged crimes, but also for behavior that offended a white man, and for labor organizing.[7][6] In the early and mid-20th century, a total of 6.5 million blacks left the South in theGreat Migration to escape these oppressive conditions.
In the postwar era of the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans, including many veterans, mounted new efforts across the South to be able to exercise their constitutional right as citizens to register and vote.[7]
The still mostly rural county reached a peak of population in 1960. Younger people have since left to seek work elsewhere. The county is working on new directions for economic development.
From 1963 through 1965, Selma and Dallas County were the sites of a renewed Voting Rights campaign. It was organized by locals of theDallas County Voters League (DCVL), and joined by activists fromStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In late 1964 they invited help from theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); with SCLC presidentMartin Luther King Jr. participating, this campaign attracted national and international news in February and March 1965. They planned a march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama. Two activists were killed during demonstrations before the final march took place.
On March 7, several hundred peaceful marchers were beaten by state troopers and county posse after they passed over theEdmund Pettus Bridge and into the county, intending to march to the state capital ofMontgomery. The events were covered by national media. The protesters renewed their walk on March 21, having been joined by thousands of sympathizers from across the country and gained federal protection, to complete theSelma to Montgomery marches.[8] More people joined them, so that some 25,000 people entered Montgomery on the last day of the march. In August of that year, Congress passed theVoting Rights Act of 1965, which was signed by PresidentLyndon B. Johnson. Millions of African-American citizens across the South have registered and voted in the subsequent years, participating again in the political system.
On March 5, 2018, Selma commemorated these marches. In addition, the city conducted a Community Remembrance Project, unveiling a new historic marker to memorialize the 19 African Americans who were lynched in Dallas County by whites during the late 19th and up to mid-20th century in acts of racial terrorism. This was done in cooperation with theEqual Justice Initiative, which published a report in 2015 that documented nearly 4,000 such lynchings, as well as Selma Center for Nonviolence Truth and Reconciliation at Healing Waters Retreat Center, Selma: Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, and the Black Belt Community Foundation.[9]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 994 square miles (2,570 km2), of which 979 square miles (2,540 km2) is land and 15 square miles (39 km2) (1.5%) is water.[10]
Dallas County, Alabama – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 38,462. The median age was 42.3 years. 23.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 87.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 83.0 males age 18 and over.[19][20]
55.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 44.9% lived in rural areas.[21]
There were 16,037 households in the county, of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 43.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[19]
There were 18,880 housing units, of which 15.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 60.4% were owner-occupied and 39.6% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.2% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.3%.[19]
As of thecensus[22] of 2000, there were 46,365 people, 17,841 households, and 12,488 families residing in the county. Thepopulation density was 47 people per square mile (18 people/km2). There were 20,450 housing units at an average density of 21 units per square mile (8.1 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 63.26%Black orAfrican American, 35.58%White, 0.11%Native American, 0.35%Asian, 0.01%Pacific Islander, 0.14% fromother races, and 0.55% from two or more races. 0.63% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race.
There were 17,841 households, out of which 33.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.40% weremarried couples living together, 25.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.00% were non-families. Nearly 27.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.15.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 28.60% under the age of 18, 9.40% from 18 to 24, 26.20% from 25 to 44, 21.90% from 45 to 64, and 13.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.80 males age 18 and over.
The median income for a household in the county was $23,370, and the median income for a family was $29,906. Males had a median income of $31,568 versus $18,683 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $13,638. About 27.20% of families and 31.10% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 40.70% of those under age 18 and 27.60% of those age 65 or over.
Dallas County is governed by a five-member county commission, elected fromsingle-member districts.
Along with the rest of the Black Belt, Dallas County is solidly Democratic. Although African Americans supported the Republican Party during Reconstruction and into the early 20th century, they have supported Democratic candidates since the mid-1960s. No Republican has carried the county sinceRichard Nixon's 3,000-county-plus landslide in1972.
United States presidential election results for Dallas County, Alabama[23]
