Appendix

Table 1. Agricultural and nonagricultural employment in the plantation counties, 1950–1990

	Number employed in agricultural work					Number employed in nonagricultural work
County	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
ALABAMA
Barbour	4,578	1,697	716	430	292	5,753	5,954	7,177	8,212	10,021
Bullock	3,240	1,347	710	345	340	2,557	2,541	2,756	2,919	3,413
Dallas*	6,402	2,906	1,083	694	659	12,774	13,923	15,569	18,393	15,971
Greene	3,666	1,697	470	197	124	1,978	2,336	2,267	2,761	3,122
Hale	3,646	2,099	606	393	289	2,506	3,523	3,657	4,348	5,153
Henry	3,440	1,699	686	544	428	2,480	3,505	4,099	5,156	6,085
Lowndes	4,344	2,032	472	412	249	1,983	2,327	2,826	3,343	3,951
Macon	3,715	1,674	292	261	287	5,988	6,146	6,827	7,703	8,236
Marengo	4,888	1,921	617	352	281	5,226	6,143	6,705	8,067	8,487
Montgomery*	4,562	2,564	1,268	1,155	1,046	47,173	54,541	59,866	78,356	91,568
Perry	3,492	1,076	651	371	325	3,230	4,062	3,963	4,251	3,929
Russell*	3,194	1,207	479	387	255	11,733	14,248	15,472	17,268	19,443
Sumter	4,011	2,100	477	254	214	3,478	3,606	4,118	4,976	5,094
Wilcox	4,951	1,925	491	189	160	3,359	3,234	3,690	3,611	3,512
Total	58,129	25,944	9,018	5,984	4,949	110,218	126,089	138,992	169,364	187,985
LOUISIANA
Avoyelles	4,982	2,812	1,435	1,191	680	5,659	7,320	8,424	11,360	11,183
Bossier*	2,569	1,083	558	443	674	7,854	13,210	17,321	31,250	34,408
Caddo*	4,979	2,433	1,368	1,143	1,470	61,923	77,546	81,208	108,045	97,409
Catahoula	1,739	739	596	656	484	1,540	1,900	2,495	3,299	3,135
Claiborne	2,971	664	269	220	121	5,127	5,131	4,732	5,705	5,269
Concordia	1,874	842	701	853	527	2,607	4,746	6,106	7,101	6,404
De Soto	2,833	1,104	563	460	468	4,333	5,622	5,876	8,515	8,065
East Carroll	2,811	1,560	867	575	505	1,945	2,221	2,200	2,820	1,966
East Feliciana	2,193	906	309	259	230	2,892	3,547	4,110	5,727	6,004
Franklin	5,453	2,792	1,360	1,123	967	2,902	4,128	4,959	6,276	6,392
Madison	2,208	1,202	750	606	497	3,153	3,032	3,265	4,020	3,294
Morehouse	3,440	1,561	971	818	754	6,413	7,586	8,067	9,700	9,594
Natchitoches	4,064	1,594	779	757	571	5,958	7,708	9,302	13,115	12,046
Ouachita*	1,731	876	692	679	817	25,253	32,718	38,648	53,233	57,283
Pointe Coupee	3,356	1,410	844	500	540	3,242	3,760	4,666	7,199	7,110
Rapides*	3,207	1,716	1,505	1,125	1,245	24,312	29,929	33,848	46,890	47,543
Red River	1,868	630	340	276	132	1,477	1,922	2,375	3,268	2,992
Richland	4,386	2,149	1,037	1,060	909	3,341	4,002	4,812	5,718	6,110
St. Landry	9,923	5,496	2,362	1,277	912	12,231	16,182	18,207	26,664	24,088
Tensas	2,306	1,084	707	599	621	1,689	1,824	1,681	1,935	1,591
Webster	1,646	638	265	241	284	9,066	11,779	13,104	15,543	14,794
West Carroll	3,104	1,671	768	736	678	1,512	1,985	2,460	2,862	3,358
West Feliciana	1,000	573	137	57	68	1,107	1,682	1,608	2,830	2,987
Total	74,643	35,535	19,183	15,654	14,154	195,536	249,480	279,474	383,075	373,025
MISSISSIPPI
Adams	1,457	476	310	237	296	11,040	12,098	11,791	14,030	12,599
Amite	3,496	1,311	525	283	244	2,662	3,324	3,423	4,269	4,182
Attala	4,321	1,529	467	327	218	4,180	4,581	5,721	6,226	6,535
Benton	2,097	826	355	225	97	651	1,396	1,896	2,571	2,707
Bolivar	12,576	6,828	2,401	1,533	1,146	6,773	8,279	11,541	12,766	13,138
Carroll	3,406	1,666	547	366	262	1,399	1,621	2,275	2,818	3,281
Chickasaw	3,475	1,436	498	423	172	2,620	4,237	5,226	6,605	7,644
Claiborne	1,767	700	210	176	123	2,283	2,267	2,555	3,715	2,955
Clay	2,290	1,269	384	231	188	3,239	4,873	5,947	7,726	8,109
Coahoma	8,857	5,249	1,854	1,372	1,007	7,783	8,639	9,164	9,732	8,871
Copiah	4,819	1,838	657	399	563	5,591	6,400	6,814	8,518	9,517
De Soto	5,458	2,835	905	721	627	2,185	4,097	10,569	21,392	32,501
Franklin	1,158	306	129	81	64	2,372	2,364	2,251	2,613	2,606
Grenada	2,068	964	398	269	179	4,266	5,380	6,724	8,038	8,316
Hinds*	6,934	3,364	1,682	1,241	1,999	49,854	67,341	80,151	109,734	112,762
Holmes	6,449	2,992	1,239	757	649	4,304	4,470	4,728	5,274	4,962
Humphreys	4,750	2,664	1,328	811	1,016	2,150	2,597	2,623	3,053	3,362
Issaquena	1,179	604	396	297	214	270	316	353	457	460
Jefferson	2,341	916	172	173	57	1,574	1,793	1,866	2,552	2,255
Kemper	3,552	1,700	460	157	170	1,362	1,872	2,213	3,033	3,477
Lafayette	3,066	1,398	477	186	343	4,099	5,198	7,470	12,630	13,263
Leflore	8,256	4,816	1,588	1,356	946	9,453	10,426	11,883	12,540	12,136
Lowndes	4,066	1,739	685	582	398	9,434	12,950	15,986	20,724	24,862
Madison	6,411	3,694	851	705	587	4,785	6,429	8,031	14,845	23,270
Marshall	4,946	2,836	889	515	382	2,510	3,699	5,564	9,204	11,007
Monroe	5,202	2,131	778	494	405	5,963	9,829	11,942	13,998	15,518
Montgomery	2,018	966	523	236	197	2,736	3,134	3,754	4,333	4,545
Noxubee	4,390	2,141	872	533	288	2,129	2,647	3,060	3,423	3,878
Oktibbeha	2,971	1,512	593	393	447	4,663	6,766	8,847	13,083	15,796
Panola	5,954	3,615	1,168	891	481	3,613	4,992	7,109	8,671	10,686
Quitman	5,811	3,211	913	699	418	1,904	2,369	3,128	3,149	2,888
Rankin	3,139	1,420	733	697	646	4,962	9,102	14,308	29,916	41,538
Sharkey	2,508	2,017	756	603	610	1,306	1,510	1,676	1,660	1,737
Sunflower	11,583	6,095	2,039	1,700	1,175	5,054	6,480	7,812	8,978	9,118
Tallahatchie	6,541	4,578	1,323	1,001	671	2,778	2,961	3,609	4,022	4,225
Tate	3,814	2,462	864	412	385	1,746	2,981	4,827	6,916	8,758
Tunica	5,966	3,295	774	729	478	1,581	1,701	1,921	1,684	1,882
Warren*	1,678	903	409	465	372	12,843	13,590	15,315	20,123	19,001
Washington*	8,843	4,955	2,154	1,768	1,514	14,294	19,641	19,829	23,522	22,617
Wilkinson	2,443	895	377	111	144	2,499	2,449	2,615	2,992	2,813
Yalobusha	2,591	1,195	369	190	159	2,520	2,611	3,653	4,561	4,390
Yazoo	6,246	2,995	1,474	1,084	1,024	5,814	6,480	6,825	8,068	7,274
Total	190,893	98,342	35,526	25,429	21,361	223,244	285,890	346,995	464,164	511,441

Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, Social and Economic Characteristics, 1950–1990 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, various years). Industry of employed persons information from table 43 (1950), table 85 (1960), table 123 (1970), table 178 (1980), and table 146 (1990).

*Counties with towns or cities of 25,000 or more inhabitants in 1960.

Table 2. Black unemployment and poverty rates in the plantation counties, 1950–1990

	Percentage of black civilian labor force unemployed					Percentage of black families with incomes below poverty level
County	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
ALABAMA
Barbour	2.3	7.9	6.6	12.9	12.5	93.5	85.6	69.0	45.3	36.3
Bullock	1.3	4.8	8.3	13.4	9.4	93.7	90.0	67.9	41.4	40.4
Dallas*	2.7	6.8	7.2	15.6	18.3	90.8	84.3	60.1	46.0	52.5
Greene	1.3	4.8	7.4	19.8	13.8	93.4	88.5	72.2	47.0	50.3
Hale	1.1	4.3	4.9	16.3	11.1	96.3	87.4	65.6	52.2	46.1
Henry	2.0	6.0	3.7	7.6	9.1	93.8	91.7	56.3	—	29.2
Lowndes	0.6	5.9	6.4	16.2	15.5	95.4	87.9	68.8	50.5	43.7
Macon	2.2	4.8	5.4	12.0	15.7	82.1	64.1	42.9	31.8	31.9
Marengo	2.4	6.7	7.5	11.6	14.2	93.6	86.5	70.1	—	43.9
Montgomery*	4.4	7.3	6.3	12.3	13.4	88.5	68.8	45.7	32.9	31.5
Perry	2.1	9.8	6.6	10.3	12.7	92.3	90.7	62.1	47.1	56.1
Russell*	2.6	8.2	7.1	12.8	13.7	88.5	71.5	52.9	34.6	31.3
Sumter	1.1	3.2	8.2	15.5	14.8	92.8	88.6	64.0	41.8	47.4
Wilcox	0.6	5.3	8.9	13.5	22.1	94.6	89.8	70.9	53.1	57.9
Average	1.9	6.1	6.8	13.6	14.0	92.1	84.0	62.0	43.6	42.8
LOUISIANA
Avoyelles	5.7	7.4	18.5	14.3	27.9	91.5	86.5	68.0	51.3	60.9
Bossier*	3.6	8.0	9.5	14.2	22.4	88.2	77.5	49.4	32.3	40.2
Caddo*	4.2	7.4	8.6	10.2	20.5	85.3	65.0	44.9	30.0	41.0
Catahoula	6.1	6.4	10.6	12.2	28.5	92.9	85.1	70.5	—	54.9
Claiborne	1.9	6.2	8.7	10.4	18.7	90.9	82.6	58.9	—	52.8
Concordia	3.4	15.4	11.3	11.7	26.3	93.3	82.2	65.5	—	53.6
De Soto	2.8	7.5	11.0	12.4	22.3	90.0	78.2	56.2	39.0	49.6
East Carroll	6.3	8.3	15.2	15.9	40.1	92.9	86.5	76.5	53.4	71.6
East Feliciana	1.2	7.6	9.9	10.7	17.6	91.8	80.0	57.1	30.4	39.3
Franklin	3.0	8.4	11.0	15.0	21.4	91.9	89.0	73.1	55.4	57.6
Madison	5.6	15.1	5.2	9.6	25.9	91.8	84.7	65.9	52.0	58.5
Morehouse	5.3	6.2	10.9	12.3	22.2	89.7	78.7	64.6	52.1	50.8
Natchitoches	3.7	13.8	12.7	14.4	23.9	86.4	82.1	67.3	38.0	51.2
Ouachita*	6.2	8.2	6.3	11.6	19.1	87.1	68.3	52.2	41.5	48.8
Pointe Coupee	5.5	10.5	16.8	16.5	23.9	91.4	84.8	56.4	47.8	49.4
Rapides*	8.2	10.3	7.6	11.4	17.6	85.4	70.3	45.9	34.5	42.2
Red River	2.4	7.4	13.7	12.4	20.1	93.4	88.9	71.7	39.0	56.2
Richland	4.1	2.2	8.7	9.5	19.4	91.4	87.1	68.6	59.8	56.4
St. Landry	4.3	10.5	10.6	10.5	24.6	91.8	84.6	65.8	41.9	55.4
Tensas	5.2	6.3	7.9	12.5	22.7	94.4	91.8	73.4	60.6	59.5
Webster	4.7	9.6	10.2	15.8	21.5	89.3	73.3	48.1	37.3	41.8
West Carroll	1.6	6.8	13.6	6.2	17.6	94.8	86.3	77.0	58.7	57.1
West Feliciana	1.2	10.6	15.9	13.7	17.4	92.3	84.9	60.1	46.7	53.7
Average	4.2	8.7	11.1	12.3	22.7	90.8	81.7	62.5	45.1	52.3
MISSISSIPPI
Adams	7.0	12.0	8.8	14.6	20.9	86.6	71.8	57.5	42.3	43.0
Amite	2.1	4.5	10.4	9.9	15.2	91.4	84.2	69.0	—	45.7
Attala	4.2	5.7	7.7	16.0	12.9	94.3	88.0	68.7	51.9	46.7
Benton	0.1	5.5	9.4	20.0	25.4	92.2	90.6	65.4	33.4	37.3
Bolivar	7.2	11.5	15.5	16.7	23.4	93.1	91.4	68.9	50.7	53.4
Carroll	0.8	3.7	7.6	14.5	21.4	95.9	94.4	72.1	43.6	50.5
Chickasaw	1.9	6.6	8.7	6.2	12.0	95.9	88.1	55.9	31.3	28.9
Claiborne	2.6	7.1	10.0	15.2	25.9	93.5	89.9	61.2	35.8	43.8
Clay	3.1	3.8	9.5	10.3	16.1	94.9	84.0	51.2	33.0	39.2
Coahoma	5.3	9.9	11.6	20.6	21.9	92.2	85.2	68.4	50.3	58.5
Copiah	2.2	9.1	10.5	14.5	15.0	96.7	88.3	57.8	43.0	44.9
De Soto	0.5	4.3	7.5	12.5	12.7	93.4	88.6	61.5	43.9	34.7
Franklin	4.5	5.0	11.7	15.9	22.9	93.7	86.7	72.1	49.6	51.0
Grenada	5.4	7.2	9.8	16.2	18.3	93.7	85.5	51.8	—	37.8
Hinds*	5.7	5.8	6.3	9.9	12.9	86.5	66.9	44.8	29.4	31.0
Holmes	1.6	7.8	10.1	14.9	21.9	95.1	92.3	73.1	54.9	61.3
Humphreys	6.2	8.1	6.1	18.8	10.5	96.6	92.8	77.4	54.9	55.2
Issaquena	1.8	6.1	9.3	12.9	15.3	99.0	98.0	62.8	—	62.8
Jefferson	0.3	10.0	15.9	20.0	28.5	96.0	92.7	73.6	41.9	49.3
Kemper	1.1	2.9	12.3	13.5	16.3	94.8	91.0	74.0	50.8	47.8
Lafayette	2.1	3.5	5.3	8.2	9.7	94.6	84.1	55.9	29.3	36.1
Leflore	7.1	9.2	9.2	15.7	18.3	93.4	87.3	61.6	46.9	51.5
Lowndes	3.9	7.3	7.4	14.9	13.5	94.0	80.9	56.2	39.9	40.5
Madison	4.5	6.0	5.8	12.1	15.7	93.8	86.0	61.9	43.4	43.4
Marshall	1.3	3.2	8.3	15.0	18.7	95.9	84.4	68.4	40.8	38.4
Monroe	3.6	12.0	7.7	8.2	11.6	95.6	83.7	55.3	38.8	39.5
Montgomery	2.8	5.4	10.8	—	16.1	95.5	88.5	67.3	46.8	48.0
Noxubee	1.4	5.7	16.0	18.0	22.4	94.6	92.8	74.3	47.1	49.7
Oktibbeha	2.4	6.5	7.8	16.2	11.9	92.5	84.3	60.2	39.2	41.6
Panola	3.3	3.4	12.2	14.1	14.7	95.8	94.4	65.6	46.1	46.7
Quitman	3.3	5.2	15.9	14.9	20.5	96.1	93.5	81.7	50.1	51.9
Rankin	1.2	5.3	5.2	9.1	8.3	92.7	78.1	43.3	29.8	25.8
Sharkey	15.2	6.7	18.7	11.8	16.0	93.4	90.3	76.6	51.0	60.2
Sunflower	3.1	6.2	12.6	15.0	16.7	94.1	90.8	72.3	49.1	54.7
Tallahatchie	1.6	5.5	9.2	12.9	20.0	94.2	92.7	79.5	49.8	54.2
Tate	1.2	3.9	10.1	13.6	13.9	96.2	92.0	64.7	41.8	35.8
Tunica	1.5	5.6	15.9	21.7	23.8	93.2	93.4	76.7	63.9	68.0
Warren*	9.8	9.2	7.2	11.1	14.9	90.1	78.6	49.0	34.6	42.7
Washington*	12.4	12.1	12.8	12.8	21.1	93.2	80.8	59.4	42.9	46.4
Wilkinson	1.3	8.6	18.7	14.6	25.3	93.0	87.6	68.3	39.7	51.2
Yalobusha	2.0	5.2	7.2	—	11.0	93.2	90.5	63.2	35.1	41.3
Yazoo	6.5	5.8	7.7	13.6	15.9	94.8	89.5	75.7	53.9	54.2
Average	3.7	6.6	10.2	14.2	17.4	93.9	87.5	64.9	43.6	46.3

Sources: Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, Social and Economic Characteristics, 1950–1990 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, various years). Unemployment rates from table 44 (1950), table 87 (1960), table 126 (1970), table 184 (1980), and table 9 (1990). Poverty rates from table 45a (1950), table 88 (1960), table 128 (1970), table 187 (1980), and table 9 (1990).

Note: Dashes (—) indicate counties and categories for which no data were provided in the 1980 census. Standard poverty measures were not developed until the 1970 census, so poverty rates for 1950 and 1960 are not entirely comparable with those from 1970 to 1990. Data for 1960 represents the percentage of families earning less than $3,000 per year, the same threshold that federal officials used as a rough measure for poverty in the 1960s. Data for 1950 represents the percentage of families earning less than $2,500 per year, which is comparable in purchasing power with $3,000 in 1960 (determined using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index Calculator at http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm). The figures for 1950 may be slightly inflated by the inclusion of unrelated individuals along with families in the census data, since these were not separated out in 1950 as they were in later censuses.

*Counties with towns or cities of 25,000 or more inhabitants in 1960.