Happy Black History Month!!

For the month of February, Battleground will be taking a long and hard look at race relations in America. Below, I’ve provided a recap of the Black Belt content I made in July of last year and tomorrow I’ll begin releasing new content once again. New topics that I’ll be covering this month will include:

• Redistricting in the Black Belt

• The Congressional Black Caucus and Majority-Black House Districts

• Race Relations After the VRA: the “Southern Strategy” and the Black Panther Part

Back to the Black Belt

Battleground launched back in July 2021 and the Black Belt was front and center. My first five posts walked the “path” created by a string of blue counties that stretches from west to east across the South. These counties are where slavery was most prevalent in the 19th century, primarily due to the nature of the soil. After slavery was abolished, many of these counties stayed majority Black as newly freed slaves outnumbered White residents. Today, this human geography makes up the base of Democratic support in southern states. This constituency of rural minority voters is often ignored as they’re outnumbered by White Republican voters and don’t resemble the urbanized minority groups that Democrats typically advocate for.

I’m a firm believer that raising issues central to Black rural voters in the South can help chip away at hyper-partisanship since their struggles sit at the nexus of issues that matter to both Republicans and Democrats. Improving equitable access to broadband, healthcare and educational opportunities in rural areas would help ameliorate long-lasting racial disparities while also benefiting the most impoverished, rural White voters who face similar challenges. The posts below dissect the various ideologies of Southern voters and charts a path forward for whoever is willing to standup for this often forgotten constituency.

Mississippi: Black representation

• Representatives in state government do not accurately reflect the state’s demographics. Even though roughly 38% of Mississippian’s identify as African American, the state has not elected a Black person to a statewide office in over 100 years.

Alabama: Religious adherence

• Politicians can’t ignore voters’ high level of religious adherence. A majority of Alabama voters look to their religious beliefs to guide their political decisions.

🔒Georgia: Rural Black voters

• Joe Biden’s support among rural African Americans in the Black Belt helped him clinch the win in Georgia. While changes in Atlanta’s suburbs helped make the state competitive, Joe Biden owes his win to support from rural counties where Black voters outnumber White voters.

South Carolina: Black conservatism and the gender gap

• Black men are significantly more likely to support conservative candidates than Black women, leading to a gender gap in voting.

🔒North Carolina: Urban-rural divide

• North Carolina’s historical east-west divide has largely been eroded and replaced by an urban-rural divide.

Links with a lock emoji (🔒) next to them are “paid” content. Please consider donating to Battleground. Once I hit my donation goal, I’ll unlock another batch of previously “paid” content for all readers. A gift for me is a gift for you!

Buy Me A Coffee