Maps can help people experience places and times otherwise beyond their reach. But their power doesn’t end with the ability to relive history. Maps can also surface new insights and provide a voice to those who were prevented from writing their own histories.
This interactive map of demographic change in the early American South does just this. It was created by the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab to “trace the journeys of people who otherwise left few marks on the historical record.” Through a series of visualizations based on historical records, it confronts this turbulent time in America’s founding. The result is an unflinching account of the movement of enslaved, free, and Indigenous people from 1790 to 1860.
The map steps through population shifts one decade at a time. Historical boundaries can be problematic, so the map uses hexbins to enable comparisons over time. It also applies a consistent color scheme to track changes among demographic groups. Bright gold and copper colors show places that have gained populations over each decade. Areas that have lost populations are shown in bright blue. Over time, the dwindling presence of Indigenous lands is shown as hashed polygons. Maps about the cession of Indigenous lands, population density, and crop ranges add more context to the story.
The map highlights several patterns when it comes to migration and displacement. From 1790 to 1860, white populations moved farther into the interior of the South as Indigenous groups were expelled. By 1830, white populations surged in Mississippi and western Tennessee.
The enslaved Black population, though, didn’t enjoy the same range of movement. Black populations clustered in plantations around fertile lands. These lands, rich in calcium carbonate and characteristically dark subsoil, are known as the “Black Belt.” With fertile ground and a concentrated population of enslaved people to work it, crops like cotton and sugar grew in profitability. Ranging from Memphis in the west, and through Alabama to Georgia in the east, this area of the South eventually contained most of the enslaved Black population.
In just 70 years, the South had completely transformed. By 1860, white and Black populations extended from Virginia in the north to Florida in the south, and as far west as Texas and Arkansas. Indigenous lands evaporated, as the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma.
Maps like this can bring history to life in important and uncomfortable ways. They illustrate the totality of displacement and subjugation that intertwine with this period of American history. They can help us acknowledge and reckon with our past while helping us pivot toward a more equitable and just future.
More to Explore
- Dig into additional maps from this series and learn how this map was made.
- Discover more maps from the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab.
