black folk; finally, and of decisive importance to the student, it is the only State that has kept a detailed record of Negro landholding, extending over a quarter of a century. This study, therefore, is an attempt to make clear the steps by which 470,000 black freedmen and their children have in one of the former slave States gained possession of over a million acres of land in a generation, the value of this land and its situation, the conditions of ownership, and the proper interpretation of these statistics as social phenomena. METHOD AND SCOPE OF THIS INQUIRY. The chief source of information concerning the ownership of land by Georgia Negroes is the annual report of the comptroller-general of the State. Georgia, however, is a peculiar State in its local government. The counties form largely independent administrative units, with their own executive, legislative, and judicial functions. The report of the comptroller is therefore largely based on returns from county officials. In the counties the form of government is not uniform, but usually the ordinary, grand jury, or county commissioners levy the taxes. These officials get their offices in various ways, being usually elected in counties with white majorities and appointed in others. In most cases there are no tax assessors, but a county tax receiver, who receives the sworn statements of property holders as to their estates. This gives rise to wholesale undervaluation, especially in the case of the rich, and to overvaluation in the case of the very small estates of the poor. The tax collector is the official who collects the taxes thus indicated on the books of the tax receiver. These manuscript books in the hands of the county tax receivers are then the original sources of information as to land ownership. They contain separate lists of white and Negro taxpayers, and under each the number of polls, number of professional men, acres of land owned and its situation, value of the land, value of city or town property, amount of stocks or shares owned, amount of money, merchandise, capital, etc., value of household and kitchen furniture, value of live stock, tools, and crops held for sale, all other property, total value of all property, and total amount of tax payable. Manifestly, if all this data could be assembled for a series of years it would form a complete and invaluable source of information. There are many hindrances, however. First, Georgia has 137 counties, many of which are difficult of access; second, the independence of the county administration gives no central State official any authority to collect anything more than the totals published in the comptroller's report. The only feasible method of adding to this information is by direct correspondence with county tax receivers, who must be paid their own price for any services they may feel disposed to render. In this way detailed returns as to the size of farms and individual tax assessment were obtained from the 56 counties which contain the great mass of the black population. In this way a basis for induction was obtained, not complete, to be sure, but unusually full and instructive. THE NEGRO IN GEORGIA. The first plans for the settlement of Georgia as developed by Oglethorpe and his fellow-philanthropists prohibited the introduction of slaves. This provision was met by clamorous and persistent agitation, and the regulations were practically nullified by smugglers in Savannah and hirers" of South Carolina slaves, so that the slave trade was thrown open in 1749. From that time until 1863 slaves were imported into Georgia. To be sure, the State prohibited importation by the constitution of 1798, but large numbers continued to be smuggled in without much concealment even after the national statute of 1808. The United States law of 1820 greatly lessened smuggling, and from 1830 to 1850 comparatively few came from outside the United States, and the Virginia and border State slave trade was developed. In 1850 smuggling commenced again and was continued until the outbreak of the war. The black population of Georgia in this way increased as follows: NEGRO AND WHITE POPULATION OF GEORGIA, 1790 TO 1890. This Negro population has been distributed in a State containing 59.475 square miles (about the same size as England and Wales), the physical characteristics of which are as follows: (1) North Georgia, consisting of the northwest corner of the State, is mountainous, with ridges, valleys, and peaks; (2) middle Georgia, consisting of the middle part of the State down as far as the latitude of Savannah and Americus, is on an average 750 feet above the sea, with level and rolling lands; and (3) south Georgia is a low, level plain, 80 to 300 feet above the sea and even lower, with a sandy soil of great fertility, ending in a fringe of low islands and swamps. The relation of the Negro to these physical features can best be learned by the following maps, which indicate the movement of the black population for a century. THE NEGRO LANDHOLDER OF GEORGIA. MAP OF GEORGIA, SHOWING NEGRO POPULATION, BY COUNTIES, 1790, |