Macon County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the east central part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,532. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Tuskegee. Its name is in honor of

Nathaniel Macon Nathaniel Macon (December 17, 1757June 29, 1837) was an American politician who represented North Carolina in both houses of United States Congress, Congress. He was the fifth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, speaker of the ...

, a member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. Developed for

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

agriculture in the nineteenth century, the county is considered within the Black Belt of the South. It has had a majority-black population since before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

History

For thousands of years, this area was inhabited by varying cultures of

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. The historic tribes encountered by European explorers were the

Creek people The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsMississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a collection of Native American societies that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building la ...

. Macon County was established by European Americans on December 18, 1832, from land ceded by the Creek, following the US Congress' passage of the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States president Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, ...

of 1830. The Creek were removed to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. The new settlers brought slaves with them from eastern areas of the South or purchased them at the slave market in Montgomery, New Orleans or Mobile. They developed the county for large cotton plantations. In the first half of the twentieth century, thousands of African-Americans migrated out of the county to industrial cities in the North and Midwest for job opportunities, and the chance to escape legal segregation. Those who remained have struggled for employment in the mostly rural county, and population has declined by about one-third since 1950. Before 1983, Macon County was primarily known as the home of historic Tuskegee Institute, now

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was founded as a normal school for teachers on July 4, 1881, by the ...

, and its noted founder and first president, Booker T. Washington.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.7%) is water.

Major highways

* Interstate 85 * U.S. Highway 29 * U.S. Highway 80 * 20px State Route 14 * 20px State Route 49 * 20px State Route 81 * 20px State Route 138 * 20px State Route 186 * 20px State Route 199 * 20px State Route 229

Adjacent counties

* Tallapoosa County (north) * Lee County (northeast) * Russell County (southeast) * Bullock County (south) * Montgomery County (southwest) * Elmore County (northwest)

National protected areas

* Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site * Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site * The George Washington Carver Museum * Tuskegee National Forest

Railroads

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

A&WP Subdivision * Former Seaboard Line (abandoned)

Demographics

2020 Census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 19,532 people, 7,474 households, and 4,279 families residing in the county.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 21,452 people living in the county. 82.6% were Black or African American, 15.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.4% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.3% of some other race and 1.1% of two or more races. 1.1% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 24,105 people, 8,950 households, and 5,543 families living in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 10,627 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 84.64%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 13.96%

, 0.16% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 0.73% from two or more races. 0.72% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 8,950 households, out of which 28.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.70% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 25.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.10% were non-families. 33.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.13. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.20% under the age of 18, 16.90% from 18 to 24, 22.90% from 25 to 44, 21.00% from 45 to 64, and 14.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 85.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.30 males. The median income for a household in the county was $21,180, and the median income for a family was $28,511. Males had a median income of $25,971 versus $21,773 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $13,714. About 26.80% of families and 32.80% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 43.80% of those under age 18 and 26.00% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Macon County has been overwhelmingly Democratic for most of the past century and a quarter. Apart from the "

dealignment Dealignment, in political science, is a trend or process whereby a large portion of the electorate abandons its previous partisan affiliation, without developing a new one to replace it. It is contrasted with political realignment. Many scholars ar ...

" era between 1948 and 1972, and

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

in the highly controversial 1928 election, no Republican has won so much as twenty percent of the county's vote in the past century. No Republican has obtained a majority in that time span, although

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

won a narrow plurality in 1956. Although

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in 2024 was able to crack 20% of the vote for the first time since Nixon in 1972, Macon County was still the most Democratic county in Alabama in that election. In the elections of 1980, Macon was the most Democratic county in the nation while in 1984 it was the most Democratic outside of the District of Columbia. Macon County was only 0.02 percent shy of this in 1992, when it gave both

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

his smallest proportion outside of the District of Columbia and independent

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot ( ; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an Independent politician ...

his smallest vote share in any county nationwide. The Sheriff of Macon County is Andre Brunson, who also was the former strength coach at Tuskegee University.

Communities

City

* Tuskegee (county seat)

Towns

* Franklin * Notasulga (partly in Lee County) * Shorter

Unincorporated communities

* Boromville * Creek Stand * Cross Keys * Fort Davis * Hardaway * Little Texas * Milstead * Society Hill * Warriorstand

Places of interest

Macon County is home to the

, a

historically black college Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...

; Tuskegee National Forest, Tuskegee Lake, the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Museum, and

Moton Field Moton may refer to: People Given name * Moton Hopkins (born 1986), American professional gridiron football player Surname * LeVelle Moton (born 1974), American college basketball coach * Robert Russa Moton (1867–1940), African American educator a ...

, the training site of the

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of th ...

References

{{Coord, 32, 23, 07, N, 85, 41, 37, W, region:US-AL_type:adm2nd_source:dewiki, display=title 1832 establishments in Alabama Populated places established in 1832 Black Belt (U.S. region) Majority-minority counties in Alabama